Balkan Puzzle

 

If you’re ever supremely bored and have Internet access, you can always entertain yourself by Googling the words, “Florida Man.” Yes, you can try this with any of the fifty states, but there’s just something special about Florida. Here’s just one of the stories I’ve found: in December, 2018, a man from Riviera Beach, Florida named Shane Anthony Mele stole some commemorative presidential coins and other items from an office in North Palm Beach. The collection was worth over $30,000. Shane was able to sell some of the coins to a pawn shop for a few thousand dollars, and then he did something that has everyone scratching their heads. He ran the rest of the coins through a Coinstar kiosk at the local grocery store. The machine gave him only the coins’ face value: less than $30. The Coinstar machine had a dedicated security camera, so police were quickly able to connect the dots.