Man faces five years in prison for releasing balloons for his girlfriend.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-02-22/news/fl-helium-balloon-environmental-crime-20130222_1_helium-balloon-fhp-trooper-wood-storks

Love hurts.

...and of course he's black. Betcha that he's also minimum' wagin', and this story will probably bring him in the clutches of private prisons, private lawsuit companies etc. trying to make an easy buck.

He should have been fined. Lots of critters live down there and animals like turtles or birds eat balloons and plastic and junk that people carelessly throw away. So yeah. He wasn't thinking.

Five years in prison for littering isn't a fine, it's fucking batshit psychotic.

I have nothing against anti-littering laws or against laws that protect animals, but that's utterly insane. Because these balloons conceivably could have killed some turtle in the area, five years is a fitting punishment? What bullshit.

That's on the same level of lunacy as animal rights fanatics who stand outside clothing stores and throw fake blood on people who walk out.

Damn cops.

Most probably, he will be offered an off-court settlement and yadda yadda, the Sheriff's office and its county will probably make some quick bucks. The 5 year prison sentence sounds more like a scarecrow in order to get victims (yes, victims) to be "cooperative". If he cannot afford it, he will either be thrown in the clutches of legal voltures, loan sharks etc. and be out of jail but fucked up for a long time, or if he's really one poor-ass son of a bitch, he might end up doing actual hard time.

It really depends what is deemed more profitable for the penal system at the time, given that private prisons seem to be a flourishing "business" in the USA, and they could always use extra workers.

I'm surprised to hear this wasn't homeland security related.

He should serve hard time along with all the other violent psychopaths. Poor turtles.

Someday in the 23rd century, an extra-terrestrial scientist with elven ears would stumble upon this article or perhaps another article of a similar nature, would analyze it deeply, and would then mutter a long elaborate conclusion about it being "illogical".

At times like these, guess all there's left to do is to laugh.

*cricket chirps*

Caffeine Freak said:

Five years in prison for littering isn't a fine

Coopersville said:

He should serve hard time along with all the other violent psychopaths. Poor turtles.

Krispy said:

He should have been fined.

That is to say, he should have been given a fine, not thrown in prison.

Ah, I misunderstood you.

The article says up to 5 years, it doesn't say how many they gave him.

Meanwhile, people are getting murdered and raped.

Keep up the good work, Florida PD.

Save the Turtles

They still do the death penalty, right? Can we just go ahead and make that a mandatory thing in Florida?

Jimi said:

The article says up to 5 years, it doesn't say how many they gave him.

This. The article makes no mention whatsoever of what sentence they've decided to give him, just that he can POTENTIALLY face up to 5 years in prison. Most likely he'll get a significant fine to pay off but I can't possibly imagine any jail time will be doled out, especially if he wasn't aware of the local laws.

Hell I doubt they've ever sent anyone to jail for it. The article mentions 21 other cases between 2008-2012, but unless someone maliciously tried to damage the environment and animals what do you think the odds are that someone has gone to jail for it?

Krispy said:

he should have been given a fine, not thrown in prison.

To elaborate and fix that statement: he should have been given a fine applause from the crowd for finding his happiness and expressing his love so sincerely, not thrown in prison.

Amen!

People release balloons they land and then a cow eats them and dies. The farmer is out of $1,000+. This happens more than you'd think.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/8494881/Farmer-wins-compensation-after-Red-Nose-Day-balloon-kills-cow.html

^ Well, perhaps that farmer was only raising that cow to turn it into a steak later on anyways.
Anyways, I just got reminded of a story I read somewhere around 2 years ago about a donkey who descended from the sky on a parachute and landed on a beach.
Man, I want to see more amusing incidents like that.

Oops....sucks!!

Meh. Littering. Give him community service speaking against the companies who waste helium to supply balloons.

God people are such dicks now days..