An Ohio man, fed up with deceptive junk mail, made the mistake of losing his temper while on the phone with a St. Louis company pitching an extended auto-service contract. Now he finds himself behind bars, where he is charged with making a terrorist threat. According to court documents, Charles W. Papenfus, 43, allegedly told a sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families. He was indicted for making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony; and he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted.
Papenfus’ wife, Tracie, said she hasn’t seen her husband since his arrest on June 27, when he was lured to a Fostoria, Ohio, police station with a false story about being suspected in a tavern fight there. Charles Papenfus, a self-employed mechanic who sometimes works on the department’s police cruisers, dropped by the station to clear his name, she said.
Tracie Papenfus said she still can’t understand why her husband is held 450 miles from home at the St. Louis workhouse on a $45,000 bond she can’t afford to pay. (That amount could be lowered at bond-reduction hearing scheduled for Monday.)
“He shouldn’t have mouthed off on the phone, but this is overkill,” Tracie Papenfus said. “He just can’t handle it in there. He’s not a criminal. … They make it sound like he’s a terrorist, and he’s far from it.” The Better Business Bureau recently accused the firm of sending mailers to consumers that incorrectly state factory warranties on their vehicles either have expired or will run out soon. Christopher Thetford, a spokesman for the BBB in St. Louis, said he isn’t surprised to hear of a consumer threatening a service-contract broker.
“While it’s not something we condone, it is something we can understand,” Thetford said. “Oftentimes, consumers feel pushed and pushed. … It’s a frustration we hear from consumers every day when they talk about the extended-service contract industry.”
Read the article…familiarize yourself with this con. A few months ago, one of these guys called to say the warranty was about to expire on my vehicle and would I like to extend the warranty? I asked which vehicle and they didn’t have a clue. And yeah, I went off on the guy.
WTF???????
You can’t threaten to “burn down the building and kill the employees and their families” anymore in America?
Whats this country coming to?
I’d love to hear what the community here thinks the correct societal response to guys like this should be?????????
Myself–I’d have NO criminal charges UNLESS he failed to attend anger management classes==held by people actually qualified to help such people.
All these instances have a fork later down the road. 99.99% of the time, society just makes the situation worse.
Sad what we do to ourselves.
I just got one of these damn telemarketer calls here at my desk. Screw ’em.
Sorry about this guys luck but I can certainly understand his need to go medieval on the marketer’s ass.
I have no comment on the criminal charges, but why don’t people use Caller ID? I never answer my phone if the caller isn’t family. Solves a LOT of problems. There’s no law that says you have to answer the phone or open your front door.
#3. That’s fine but if you do business out of your home…..you pretty much have to answer the phone.
Oh come on! I can’t get through the day without threatening to burn down a building and kill the employees and their families (and their friends and neighbors and pets).
The guy in Starbucks was little slow this morning, so I made the same completely harmless comment. He just spit in my latte (as usual) and we went about our business. It’s common courtesy.
When answering the phone never say hello twice. Works every time.
Of course if he did kill all the folks behind this particular scheme and burn down their building, he should be given a ticker tape parade down Fifth Avenue.
As it is, since he didn’t follow through with the threat, are there criminal charges for breech of contract? Or is that always a civil matter?
Telemarketers are the worst of scum, IMHO, even if they are actually selling a real product. These guys with their fake stuff are, of course the worst of the worst.
I don’t have caller ID on my landline because the telco wants something like $9 a month for it. Funny that you can get cell service WITH caller ID for about twice that. Oh, and caller ID may not ever have been invented if it wasn’t for scummy telemarketers. Screw ’em!
In other words… you are in fact not the property of the US government. You are the property of Corporate America because corporate America owns the US government.
Nothing new here.
He didn’t just “go off on a telemarketer,” he made threats. Serious-sounding threats. He SHOULD go to jail.
It’s one thing to give these telemarketers a piece of your mind. It’s another to commit an illegal act while doing so.
If I was on a jury I would vote to acquit. Yes, even if he followed through on his threats. Read up on jury nullification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification
I’ve had these scumbags call me on my mobile more than once, which is illegal. I filed a complaint with the FTC, who promptly responded that they concluded that nothing improper had happened. This is despite that fact that the FTC’s own included flyer mentions that the type of call I received was illegal and should be reported.
I can only conclude that the FTC is a toothless joke there so Washington can claim they are protecting consumers, when they know they really aren’t.
PS: This was under Bush Jr., but I doubt things have changed since Jan 20.
The guy shouldn’t have said what he did but the Federal government is protecting criminals but hey the people in Congress have to protect their friends now don’t they?
They’ve long supported legal loan sharking by credit card companies.
Have people lost their common sense? The telemarketer is disturbing a man at his home hundreds of miles away and the guy lost his temper. Comes with the territory. Who gives a shit.
If he actually commits a crime, like burning down the building then take him to jail.
All you ninnying little bitches talking about anger management and the serious nature of his threats deserve the police state we now have.
It just makes me sick.
#9 Doesn’t it bother you that the police “lured him” to the station? I mean come on. The guy may have had 10 customers who talked about this expired car warranty. It could have been a long day. Maybe he was really stressed when he picked up the phone. There are dozens of reasons why this guy could have lost it. Wrong thing to say, and worded very strongly to say the least.
What happened to the old days when a sheriff could show up at the door and tell you that you over reacted. A friendly visit would have resolved this situation with a nice verbal warning. No need to essentially shut down the guys business.
I agree with Ian (#14)
I think #9 (Mac Guy) should be locked up for his incredible stupidity, then sterilized for hope that he will not breed.
This is a story about how crazy things have become in a country that used to be admired, and some have treated it with humor, but you have to stop and consider the fact that a real American citizen is in jail over this pathetic BS right now and a whole family may possibly be destroyed by this. You dumb fuking assholes who are not concerned about this police state had better get your heads out of the sand before it’s too late.
#9 MacGuy you are a fucking moron.
what are you going to do about it jackass?
While it’s not nice to utter threats, the man is absolved by the situation. The telemarketer phoned the man, not the other way around. “A man’s home is his castle.” OK, he might have just hung up, or perhaps put the phone down for a minute first. However, when you are surprised in your home by a felon, a certain amount of self-defence is forgiveable. I’d equate what the guy said with telling a burglar to “get out of here.” The telemarketers should be fined for wasting police time.
Eyes are on the judiciary to turn this scow around.
This is nothing. Since filing my bankruptcy in federal court I have gotten 8 calls from “fixers”. Not one contacted my lawyer instead of me as required.
All got my name and number from the court records, posing as creditors doing their due diligence on my case. Everyone of them is a thief. Not one read the filing.
Oh and btw, they can get way too much information from these records.
I just wish that one was local so I could pay a visit.
#14–Ian==you need anger management too. I have referred your case to the local nut farm, they say just give them a call to be picked up: 1-888-I’m Fu8king Nuts.
I hear they serve lemon koolaid on Wednesdays. Enjoy.
Wait … where’s the troll blaming this on the Obama administration? Did he have to dial in to Rush, or something?
#11 Especially this part…
“1997, the Second Circuit ruled that jurors can be removed if there is evidence that they intend to nullify the law, under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 23(b).”
#14 Ian
I agree. Common sense left the good old USA years ago (or so it seems).
RE: #23, Ranger007, common sense left the whole fricken world years ago. In some places it never even arrived.
#22 “Especially this part…
‘1997, the Second Circuit ruled that jurors can be removed if there is evidence that they intend to nullify the law, under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 23(b).'”
But jurors aren’t asked the reason for their vote. It is the burden of the court to show evidence that there is intent to nullify.
“[He told the caller] that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families.”
This guy sounds to be serotonin deficient. I would guess that he has many other stressors in his life to react verbally that way.
A truly crazy guy might respond with something like ” no, thank you sir, and please don’t call me again” … as he reaches for his gun, a pack of matches and a container of gasoline.
I suggest all telemarketers respond to such pleasantries with “Yeah, Right. I wasn’t born yesterday you bastard so back off. I’ve got your number and I know where you live.”
My threat is to Bank of America. If they don’t stop calling me at home from various marketing agencies I’m really going to have to threaten them. I get 2-3 calls a week after 6pm. How f*cking annoying is that, especially when your number isn’t suppose to be listed! How the hell did they even get my home phone when it’s not listed for anything.
“the extended-service contract industry”?????????
“The Protection Racket industry?”
“The Car Jacking industry?”
“The Loan Sharking industry?” Oh. I guess that one’s okay. It’s usually referred to as the credit card industry, though.
This guy will get off. I mean, who’s gonna testify? They gonna bring the telemarketer in from his call center in Idaho to say, “Yessir. During the commission of a fraudulent telephone call, an incorporate and probably unidentifiable voice made obviously exaggerated claims of future terrorist retribution against my ‘industry’ even though he was unaware of who we are or where we were located.”
Cripes! Shouldn’t a prosecutor have to be able to prove you had the ability and intent to follow through with a threat before charging you with terrorism?
Hell. How many times did I threaten to kill my ex-wife? Oooops. Gotta go…
So it ever so slowly dawns on the public that terrorism isn’t really what they thought it was.
20,000 Americans die by suicide each year.
You are the greater danger.
In more ways than one.
#28… the Fed’s don’t need no evidence to make their case.. they have the “Patriot” act… yeah!!!!…. no need for evidence or allow lawyers into the process.. happy happy days…. except for people like this poor guy of course.
Been in this dudes shoes without going over the edge so many times. AT&T, My Bank, And yes worse of all the Car Warranty goons that call A LOT. Ive broken phones, Punched walls, tell them they can go F themselves ect ect.
Hot tempers are a problem, It has ruined my life, yet I still do it. I don’t think they make a descent pill for this. It’s something that has to come from inside. I lived in peace for 2 years, then suddenly went back to my bad old ways. Xanax and other drugs of the like help, but their effectiveness goes down over time, then your looking at a possible Drug rehab to kick the habit of popping xanax like candy just to remain calm and somewhat happy in the hell of an existence.
Some people also have other conditions that cause these kinds of problems. Like Chronic pain, Depression, ect. The guy went over the edge, but I do feel for him.