Joker-Inspired Teens Charged With Conspiracy to Commit Terror

Source: ABC News

When Justin Colby Dirico and Bryan Eugene Stafford, two recent high-school graduates in Pembroke, Va., went to see "The Dark Knight" a few weeks ago, little did they know how the latest Batman movie would alter their lives.

Inspired by Heath Ledger's wicked portrayal of the Joker, who left playing cards at the scenes of his crimes, the two 18-year-olds allegedly wrote threatening messages on cards and left them at a local Wal-Mart and Kmart and under car windshields outside a Dairy Queen and an auto parts store on the weekend of Aug. 9-10, according to local police.

The prank ended up alarming dozens of people who found the cards, landed Dirico and Stafford in jail for a night and led to them being charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The duo were arrested after Pearisburg police Sgt. Richard Gautier got a tip and pulled in Stafford for an interview on Tuesday.

-----

While Dirico and Stafford were charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism by a magistrate in Pearisburg, they were only charged with disorderly conduct in Christiansburg, where cards were found inside the town's Kmart.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5605818&page=1

---

Be careful of your pranks in GWB America!

Oh and for those of you wondering - Christiansburg?

Christiansburgh*, named for William Christian, is located on a plateau deep in the heart of the Alleghenies. Christian, described by Lula Givens in her book Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia, in the Heart of the Alleghenies, was an important person in the area when it was still Fincastle County. Governor Dunmore had appointed him one of the first justices of that county and named him chairman of the Committee of Safety to protect the settlers. He was born on Christian's Creek near Staunton, Virginia in 1742. William studied law with Patrick Henry and courted and married Patrick's sister, Ann.

http://www.christiansburg.org/history.htm

:eyes:

If we started prosecuting those, maybe there would be jobs for these punks and they wouldn't have time for pranks.

Pranks would get so much further out of control in my youth, with no punishment whatsoever.

at least I had a brain cell 25 years ago, just getting out of high school and would at least think of the "Oh Shit Factor". By that I mean "Oh Shit" what is gonna happen to me if I got caught. Today, it seems that kids in and just out of high school don't have that Common Sense Gene in their body or their brian, and I have an 18 and 20 year old child, so don't give me any of the normal crap of I don't know what I am talking about. Today it seems to me that kids are taught, don't worry about what ya do as we don't want you to feel bad about yourself. Kids today need to learn what the hell it means to take responsibility for your actions, I know that won't be a popular theme on these boards but it is needed. People need to take responsibility for all of their actions and pay the price if they break the law or the rules.

And just to answer the question, yes I have no tolerance for people that willing break the law especially using a gun to do so but I fully support gun ownership for LAW ABIDING ADULTS.

letting their little Kids walk all over them. I don't spank my kids but I don't allow them to give me attitude, talk back to me, whine when I say time to go, or lie to me, I don't think lying is cute.
I believe in No TV, GO TO YOUR ROOM, and the power of the Words "No, because I said so"

Fortunately when we are out in public people compliment me on my well behaved children
and I say thank you, I expect no less.

P.S. As scary as I sound, I do believe in letting kids be kids. I play with my boys on the play ground and the pool. I just don't tolerate bad behavior.

I'm considered strict with my kids because I expect to know where they are at all times and who they are with. If I haven't met the parents, they can't hang out. i just grounded my son today from all video games and computer time because he decided to talk to me as though I were a piece of trash all the way to his first day of high school and all the way home. my kids are 12 and 14. People keep telling me they need more freedom. Generally these are people with no children, or whose children act like baboons. Rules and consequences are necessary.

These two will be counted in the "terrorists successfully interdicted" column when this town and county apply for their next Homeland Security grants.

Never a good combination.

These idiots could get a life-long record from this asinine prank that will haunt them the rest of their lives.

And the federal authorities who charged them are looking like a bunch of humorless jerks who have no compassion or understanding.

Welcome to the 21st century, citizens.

leaving playing cards on a window will get you 20 years but making Ricin in a hotel in Las Vegas only gets you 30 months? Man, remind me to stay away from playing cards.

I mean... they WERE planning acts of terrorism. I bet they were funded by Iran.

Better torture them, just to be safe.

:+

Too much time on their hands. And, as my mom used to say, If brains were dynamite they couldn't blow their noses.

Julie

not treated as act of terror.