Growing up addicted to detective shows and true crime, I had always been aware that people would flush drugs down the toilet whenever they were on the brink of being raided. However, surely even the dumbest criminal would realize that it's not a good idea to do away with evidence any larger than a few wraps of heroin. Given the usual diameter of an S-bend, surely no one would stuff, say, oooh, a considerable amount of cash down the toilet?
Not so.
Take currency forgers Selina Jean Valdez and Daniel Marquez, of Pueblo, Colorado. It seems that the couple, aware their duplex was about to be raided in late December, flushed wads of counterfeit money down the toilet. The result? Destroyed plumbing. A flooded apartment. Urination and defecation in plastic bags for over a week, until the cops came back on Thursday to search the dwelling and arrest the couple.
According to the Pueblo Chieftain, "hunks of suspected counterfeit bills [were] packed into the pipes...span[ning] from just a few feet beyond the toilet to almost 100 feet along the lines."
It's early days, but I think that if there were an award for the Most Inappropriate Use of a Toilet, this incident would be a strong contender for the 2006 crown. Seriously, what could top this over the next eleven and a half months?