Florida
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BOCA RATON — Police shut down an illegal exotic petting zoo after discovering a man had been kidnapping neighborhood cats and claiming they were rare “miniature panthers” from South America. Russell “Rusty” Patterson, 42, had been operating “Patterson’s Rare Feline Experience” from his backyard for two months, charging visitors $25 per person to pet what…

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CAPE CORAL — Police arrested a local man after he was caught operating an elaborate fake drive-thru window from his living room, taking orders and payments from confused drivers who thought they were at a Wendy’s. Troy Buchanan, 36, had constructed a replica drive-thru window in the front of his house, complete with a speaker…

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TALLAHASSEE — State archivists were horrified to discover that a janitor had been systematically replacing historical documents in the state archives with elaborate hand-drawn forgeries “to make history more interesting.” Leonard “Lenny” Briggs, 58, had been working as a night janitor at the Florida State Archives for seven years when curators noticed something odd about…

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SARASOTA — Animal control officers and the Coast Guard teamed up to rescue a man who had been stranded on a floating island made entirely of pool noodles for five days after his “genius transportation idea” went horribly wrong. Derek Callahan, 29, had constructed what he called “The S.S. Foam Dream” using approximately 800 pool…

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ORLANDO — Health inspectors shut down a restaurant after discovering the owner had been replacing all menu items with increasingly elaborate gas station food he claimed was “artisanal street cuisine.” Marcus “Chef Marco” Henderson, 41, had been running “La Petite Convenience” for three months, charging upscale prices for reheated 7-Eleven taquitos ($18), gas station hot…

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ST. PETERSBURG — Code enforcement officers discovered a sprawling pillow fort empire spanning three residential properties after neighbor complaints about “suspicious construction” and “an unusual amount of blanket deliveries.” Brandon Mitchell, 33, had allegedly been building what he called “Fort Awesome Supreme” for the past eight months, using over 2,000 pillows, 500 sheets, and an…

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