Man Arrested For Threatening Telemarketer
By Wyatt Earp | July 23, 2009
I don’t mean to be a dink, but is there any jury in America that would convict a guy – even this guy – for threatening a freakin’ telemarketer? Maybe I should represent Mr. Papanfus:
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you, is there any one of you seated here today that has not thought about threatening a telemarketer? Anyone at all?? Bueller??? Bueller???”
“Your Honor, the defense rests.”
The next thing you know, I am driving to work in a solid gold Lamborghini. Bam!
When Charles Papenfus threatened to burn down the offices of St. Louis broker of extended auto-service contracts, he identified specific workers he would target and delivered the threat “without provocation,” said Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce in a prepared statement released to new organizations at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Charles W. Papenfus, 43, of Fostoria, Ohio, allegedly told a sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families. He was indicted for making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony; and he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted.
For the record, I am in no way condoning Papenfus’ actions. I do, however, understand the rage that people feel when some jerkass telemarketer calls. This is exactly why the Do Not Call Registry was created, kids.
In that story, Forsyth said the alleged threat was uttered several minutes into a phone call initiated by the St. Louis telemarketing firm, which had called Papenfus in response to a voice-mail message. Joyce says in her statement that Papenfus, in fact, dialed the firm and delivered the threat to the employee who answered the phone. (H/T – STLTODAY)
Here’s my prediction: Papenfus will be convicted, but will not spend one day in prison. He’ll receive probation and be forced to attend anger management classes, but that will be the end of it. And again, I base that on the fact that far too many people will empathize with the defendant.
Ya heard it here first.
Topics: Evil = Funny | 8 Comments »
I’d vote to acquit this guy even if he had carried out his threats. I don’t normally condone violence, but this @$$ho!e company has been periodically calling my cellphones (my work phone and my personal cell) for months trying to sell me an extended warranty for my car (a 1995 Jeep with 138K miles? NO warranty extends that far). Parasites, they are. All of ‘em.
Oh, and so as not to let any guilty parties off the hook, anyone who buys anything from this company after a cold call from one of the “telemarketers” (i.e. con artists) is a moron. If it weren’t for these gullible idiots, these telemarketers (and their cousins, the spammers) wouldn’t exist.
I totally admit telemarketers are a pain in the ass, but do they really need to be personally threatened and have their families threatened when they are only trying to do their job?
I have worked for inbound call centers in the past, and any offensive calls were warned once then cut off. I can tell you, its not nice to be sworn at. Even when someone calls in they still think its OK to verbally abuse the person on the other end of the phone trying to help.
telemarketers usually are outbound calls only and they do get more of a bad rep, but like I said, dont yell at the person yell at the owner of the company.
just my two cents..
The Bird.
Which reminds me Wyatt … are you satisfied with your long distance service?
Just before donotcall went into effect, we were saturation bombed for more than a week by foreign accented callers wanting to sell us Dish network. They went so far as to call once an hour, from 8 AM to 10 PM on the fourth of July. I got one to admit they were calling from some place in Girard estates, but couldn’t get an address. Just as well, I suppose.
I don’t condone it, but I’d definitely vote for acquittal too.
..and that do-not-call registry is a joke too, I still get calls, and telemarketers can mask/change CID info too, so unless you’ve got some connections with Ma Bell to get some gear setup in your house to trace it… what’s the point.
I’m not surprised. Years ago my mother got angry (and for a very good reason) and mouthed off to a telemarketer – she may have even dropped a f-bomb, I can’t remember.
Anyway, the PHONE COMPANY called back and said that if my mother ever did that again, they’d shut off our phone.
Yeah…she was shaking. Heh…
But I’d like to know if anyone else is getting those annoying calls that are pre-recorded in some Asian language?
John D – Don’t hold back, John. Tell us what you really think! Heh.
TBB – You should tell the callers how hot you are. Instant politeness.
Doghouse – You know what? I’m not! Heh.
Lergnom – Yeah, DirecTV is so much better!
Smite – We get them sometimes, too. Hell, our DIVISION gets them! When I tell them they called a police station, they immediately apologize.
GroovyVic – I may be getting them, but I don’t speak Chinese. Tee hee hee!
The do-not-call-list is a stupid idea. We shouldn’t have to put our numbers on a list not to be called. Now they get cell phone numbers. We have the internet today. If I want your service, I’ll get on the internet, find the service, and give you a call.