Local Police Steal Idea from Simpsons Episode

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Forty people promised a tax refund of more than $500 were arrested on criminal warrants when they appeared at a state office building to collect the refund, authorities said. The Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Office sent letters to 500 people with outstanding warrants in October, saying that a computer error meant there was a $572.26 check for them that could be picked up in person. Once they arrived on Saturday and their identities were confirmed, deputies arrested them. "By having them come to us, we did in eight hours what it would take 40 hours to do," Sheriff Ron Bateman said. "No one got hurt, and no one resisted arrest. It was just some broken hearts." Indeed. "You mean there's no check?" one disappointed person asked. Another wondered, "Do you validate parking?" Facing a backlog of more than 10,000 unserved warrants in Anne Arundel Bateman, who took office in December, decided to have the targets come to him. The 500 represented the most recent criminal warrants, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. The letters were sent Oct. 5, telling the subjects that a computer error had been detected in the "tax break indicators" used to determine their tax rates. The comptroller's office, the letters said, had found during an audit that they had overpaid their taxes by $572.26, and they could pick up a refund check at the Treasury Building in Annapolis Saturday. Deputies posing as receptionists had the people escorted down a hallway by plainclothes enforcement officers from the comptroller's office. They were then arrested by uniformed deputies in a secluded area. Forty people were arrested on 54 outstanding warrants. Many were wanted for failure to appear in traffic court, but other charges included fraud, violation of probation, assault, drug possession and auto theft. Joseph Shapiro, a spokesman for the comptroller's office, said the agency was "happy to help."

REACT: Immediate flashback to one of the funniest Simpsons episode beginnings ever, where they cut to the family in the car on the way to the police station, Homer wearing a sailor's cap, and talking about how he can't wait to pick up his sailboat. As soon as he enters the police station proudly proclaiming "I'm here to pick up my sailboat," they brutalize him over unpaid parking tickets. He pays his $40 and still not realizing it's a gimmick, says, "Now, where's my sailboat???" Next scene is him muttering angrily to himself in the car as Bart asks "Dad, where's the sailboat?"