Vasoline and Crime

[Keith_Hixson]

Is this guy friends with any of guys back east?

Keith


Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Va. man ordered to pay damages for motel mess
Room was coated with petroleum jelly
BY NANCY DOOLING
Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- A Virginia man who admitted Monday to coating his motel room with the contents of 14 jars of petroleum jelly in May will have to pay $3,886 for damages to the motel.

Robert Chamberlain leaves Broome County Court after being sentenced to three years probation for covering a hotel room and himself with petroleum jelly.

KATHRYN DEUEL / Press & Sun-Bulletin


Robert F. Chamberlain, 45, of McLean, was sentenced by Broome County Judge Patrick H. Mathews Monday to three years of probation. Chamberlain pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief. He'll serve his probation in Virginia, the judge said.

Chamberlain, dressed in a blue button-down shirt and navy blue dress pants, declined comment after his sentencing.

Chamberlain was charged May 10 after he coated every object in a Motel 6 room in the Town of Chenango with petroleum jelly, Broome County sheriff's deputies said.

He didn't have much of the goo -- typically used as diaper rash ointment or as a balm for chapped lips -- in his possession when he was booked in at the county jail, a correction officer said.

"He looked normal," booking officer Anthony Rando said. "He didn't look slippery," Rando said, but he carried the smell of petroleum jelly with him into the jail.

Rando said Chamberlain also was quiet and cooperative during his stint at the jail.

Mathews didn't ask Chamberlain on Monday why he coated his room with petroleum jelly, and Chamberlain didn't offer any explanation. Chamberlain will have to pay $3,886 in restitution, the judge said.

Chamberlain was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies at the Econo Lodge on Upper Front Street in the Town of Chenango, where he was registered.

Chamberlain was initially charged with felony-level criminal mischief. The charge was reduced as part of his guilty plea.