Lauderhill man creates giant rubber band ball

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP) -- Look, over there. Under that blue tarp in a suburban driveway. That thing that's the size of a Smart car?

It's Joel Waul's rubber band ball.

Waul has spent the last six years carefully wrapping and linking and stretching rubber bands of various sizes into the ball shape. The Guinness Book of World Records declared it the world's largest rubber band ball in 2008.

On Thursday, Waul will say goodbye to his creation. A team from Ripley's Believe it or Not will come to his driveway with a crane and haul the 6-foot, 7-inch tall, 9,032-pound behemoth away. The ball will eventually be displayed in a far-off museum yet to be determined, so folks can marvel at Waul's obsession.

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© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Iguana-Rid -- just $16.99 for a 32-ounce bottle

We kid you not.

Now, if you are a regular follower of Bizarre Florida, you know that iguanas frequently show up in posts here, and not usually in a flattering way.  They may look cool, but they have an evil reputation -- for being vicious, destructive to foliage, and for breeding prolifically.

Figuring that many people would prefer not to have iguanas in their yards, a Boca Raton man has come up with a unique new product called Iguana-Rid, "the spray that keeps the iguanas away."  According to Mark Streisfeld, Iguana-Rid is basically a brew of nasty substances -- including garlic and red pepper extracts -- that are believed to repel the unwated reptiles. ""It works as a form of harassment. To get the iguanas to leave, you have to make them uncomfortable," Streisfield said.

Scott Hardin, an exotic species specialist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, isn't so sure. "All I can say is when it comes to iguanas, it will take continuous management," he said. "You can't do one application and walk away."

Other removal alternatives -- trap the animals yourself or call a licensed professional trapper.  But, said Hardin, remember that it's illegal to release the pesky reptiles anywhere but on your own property.

Man with Britney Spears tattoo steals Chihuahua wearing pink earrings

WILTON MANORS, Fla. (AP) -- A man with a tattoo of Britney Spears' name on his arm or neck allegedly stole a Chihuahua with pink earrings from a South Florida gay bar. Brian Dortort, 48, said Thursday he has spent weeks searching for his 4-month-old pooch, named Hudson Hayward Hemingway. The dog, about the size of a softball, was in a specialty pet bag.

Dortort said he let a man hold the Chihuahua for a moment during a friend's birthday party, then both of them disappeared.

Police said a suspect has been identified, but it's up to the Broward State Attorney's Office to decide whether to an issue an arrest warrant.

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Information from: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Broward Sheriff seeking ugly robber with weird disguise

The Broward County Sheriff's Office is looking for a rather brazen bank robber who showed up at a Pompano Beach bank branch last week wearing "an ill-fitted, light brown, long haired wig, a surgical mask over his mouth, dark sunglasses, black gloves, a long sleeve, dark colored sweat shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and blue pants," according to a press release.

The evil-doer walked up to a teller with a backpack, demanding money. The teller didn't hear him and said, “Excuse me?” Whereupon the evil-doer pointed a gun at her and repeated his request. But he was too impatient to wait for a response. He walked to the next teller counter, jumped over it, approached the teller, pointed a gun at her and repeated his request. She handed over the money. The robber stuffed it into his backpack, jumped back over the counter, and "fled the scene on foot," according to police.

The man is described in the press release as a 30-something black male with a stocky build, approximately 5’7” in height, sporting a goatee.

Homeless sex offender requests that judge put him back in jail

Sex offender Raphael Marquez, 38, was released from prison last month after serving seven years of an eight-year sentence for sexual battery.  He was supposed to serve two years of house arrest.  However, that proved to be impossible because Marquez could not find a house in which to live.

"Every place he looked he couldn't afford or had a restriction," his attorney told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.  According to the newspaper, 24 of Broward's 31 cities have laws banning sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places where children gather.

At the end of June, Marquez went before a judge who sentenced him to serve six months in the Broward County Jail in lieu of the two years of house arrest.  When he gets out, he will still be under supervision for 20 years and will carry the sex offender label for life.  Which means he will still have problems finding a place to live.

Lori Butts, a local psychologist who works with sex offenders, said residency restrictions don't necessarily reduce the likelihood that an offender will commit more sex crimes, but that such people are harder to monitor when they are homeless or fugitives.

"I am getting more and more clients who want to go back to jail or prison," Butts told the newspaper. "And it's costing the state and county more money to house them. My concern is that they're going back to prison and they are not getting the treatment they need."

Prosecutor's husband busted as drug dealer

   Yeah, we know that people are busted for drug dealing every day. But it isn’t often that the accused is married to a prosecutor.

   Elizabeth Scherer-Mercer, a prosecutor in the Broward State Attorney’s Office, filed for divorce the day her husband, Anthony Mercer, bonded out of jail, according to SunSentinel.com.

   Mercer admitted to police that he had packaged drugs for distribution and said it was “basically paying the rent,” according to an arrest report.

Broward commissioners want to know how to stay out of jail

So it has come to this: Broward commissioners ask for help to stay out of jail.

That's an actual headline in the Miami Herald, which reports that Broward County commissioners have invited South Florida U.S. Attorney R. Alex Acosta to show them about how to avoid being arrested on federal corruption charges.

Federal probes have already prompted guilty pleas by three Palm Beach commissioners and two West Palm Beach city commissioners over the past three years.

''It's a very scary thing,'' said Commissioner John Rodstrom.

The commissioners will discuss whether they should bar themselves from soliciting contributions from lobbyists and others to benefit charities or the campaigns of political allies. It's a common practice that can become problematic when the people they hit up for money show up seeking contracts or favors.

WATCH THE VIDEO: Live on the web, it's your house being robbed!

A woman watched her Boynton Beach house being robbed through a live video feed on her office computer in Fort Lauderdale, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Two men crawled through a doggy door Wednesday, wandered around her home and gathered a flat screen television, Wii, safe and a gaming machine.

"This is unbelievable," she told a 911 dispatcher. "The cat is freaking out. The dogs are hiding."

Police arrested the burglars as they left the house. Thomas watched the men panic as police arrived the officers arrived. Police arrested them as they left the house.

Watch the video:

Judge jumps bench to stop courtroom attack

A Broward county judge forced order in his court Tuesday when he lunged from his bench to stop a defendant's attacks, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The plaintiff, who accused her ex-boyfriend of domestic violence and running her off the road, was chased and beaten by the defendant before the judge and several law enforcement officers pulled him off. The Sun-Sentinel wrote:

A courtroom deputy was coming up behind Reasee to handcuff him when the defendant lunged at Word, chasing her several feet until he cornered her in the courtroom's witness stand.

Word told the Sun Sentinel that Reasee hit her twice in the temple and twice in the back of the head.

As she cowered under the blows, Richards jumped over the bench and landed on Reasee, video shows. ...

"I was amazed," Word said. "I've never seen a judge come off [the bench] like that. I'm glad he did."

And we're glad there's video! Good job, judge!

Man steals hearse, goes joyriding during funeral

A Hallandale Beach man whom police said was "tagging along" at a funeral this afternoon made off with the hearse during the service -- and almost lost his own life when a deputy fired at him in an attempt to stop the vehicle.

"Just when you think you've seen it all, this is obviously a first for me," Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti told the Sun-Sentinel. "We've had hearses stolen before, but not in the middle of a service.  It's obviously a very strange situation."

Police said the alleged hearse thief accompanied a relative employed by a funeral director to a service at a local church.  After the casket was removed from the vehicle, the man got behind the wheel and drove the hearse to his home, where he told his mother what he had done.

"He told relatives he had stolen the hearse, grabbed a Bible and a cross, and asks anybody if they want to go for a ride," Lamberti said.

In the meantime, police had issued a bulletin for the missing hearse, and caught up with it while the man was driving it back to the church.  Deputies cornered the vehicle and approached it on foot, whereupon the driver put the pedal the metal and tried to run over a deputy who shot at him, hitting him in the right thigh.

The injured man continued driving back to the church, parked the hearse and ran inside.  Which is where Hallandale, Hollywood and Broward law enforcement officers caught up with him and brought him down.  Paramedics took the man to a local hospital; Lamberti said his injuries were not life-threatening.  The investigation continues...