Every day for years, Magistrate Daniel Chris Cook came to court to hear matters of of the law and to officiate judicial proceedings. As a sign of his authority vested by the State of Ohio, he would punctuate his opinions by striking his gavel (wooden mallet) on a sound block to give his ruling finality. One day in March 2011, he reached out to find that his gavel was gone and nowhere to be found. It just mysteriously vanished.
An internal investigation was immediately done to find out what happened. The judge went back to the surveillance tape and hit rewind all the way back to the last day he remembered seeing the gavel. After enduring the sometimes boring viewing he found what he was looking for. There the culprit was - walking over to the bench and taking the gavel. It wasn’t immediately known who the individual was but the man with him was identified as having appeared in court trying to get his license back. With that information, Judge Cook turned over the tape to the authorities who soon identified the man as Christopher Collins, 47. Mr. Collins later admitted under questioning to have taken the gavel and was charged with petty theft. Asked where the gavel went, he said that he gave it to someone else who he didn't even know.
Of all people to mess with, he picks a judge. That’s really dumb.
An internal investigation was immediately done to find out what happened. The judge went back to the surveillance tape and hit rewind all the way back to the last day he remembered seeing the gavel. After enduring the sometimes boring viewing he found what he was looking for. There the culprit was - walking over to the bench and taking the gavel. It wasn’t immediately known who the individual was but the man with him was identified as having appeared in court trying to get his license back. With that information, Judge Cook turned over the tape to the authorities who soon identified the man as Christopher Collins, 47. Mr. Collins later admitted under questioning to have taken the gavel and was charged with petty theft. Asked where the gavel went, he said that he gave it to someone else who he didn't even know.
Of all people to mess with, he picks a judge. That’s really dumb.
