Golf balls the new copper?

This has to be one of the strangest stories I have ever heard.

To Funny,, I wonder if the guys Associates told him he could also have a free membership if he did a good job :)

I guess the golf course wasn't getting their cut!!!

I play here 4 times a week. I lose on average 2 balls in that pond each time I play. I have been playing here for 10 years. All those balls are mine and I am just reclaiming them.

I can see a trespassing charge on the Golf Course maybe! But golf balls have been taken out of every water hazard in the world with out any complaints. This charge is a stretch. Maybe the Judge is head of the country club that runs the course. Reference, Caddy Shack.

Great, can I get mine back?

Really!?!? $5k bail to boot. I feel a lot safer now!

Meanwhile drug dealers get a pass, home invaders get a pass, child molesters get a pass, crooked politicians get a pass, the list goes on and on and on. But hey, lets arrest the golf ball theives. Way to go Keystones.

When the water gods claim a golf ball only the scuba priests and priestesses are allowed to retrieve it. Any country club that doesn't understand this is asking to a plague of locusts.

Were the course operators collecting the golf balls themselves? Or were they leaving them in the ponds to pollute the aquifer feeding them? Sounds like the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ought to pay a visit to this golf course...

Wow... Newtown, Michigan doesn't mess around...

...Take a look at what $5K bail buys you in Massachusetts...

$5K Bail: Man, wanted on warrant for 2-counts assault and battery with dangerous weapon, arrested for assaulting deaf woman on train... Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/24525726/detail.html#ixzz1sUTrIcWD

$5K Bail: Man, arrested for kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon... Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x2139486126/Kidnap-suspects-bail-set-at-5-000-after-arrest-at-gunpoint-in-Hingham

Thank God these criminals were captured and no golfers were injured!

Back in 1979 in Navy Boot Camp one of the NAVY SEALS did the the same thing, poisonous snakes and rare alligator from time to to time. I thought it he was crazy at first but he was trained to deal with nature. As for steeling the ball I say no way If people knows were there balls are and don't get them they forfeit ownership Knowingly. If the country club didn't retrieve them same thing they were picking up trash that was in a pond.
Now Trespassing is another story, If he was a member or had a written agreement giving permission from the country club. He was cleaning up trash left behind by others. If I was the judge a minor infraction like this I would make Both the shake hands and stop using our taxes for minor nonsense share court cost Then the country club can make an written agreement or tell them Trespassing charges will be unforced WTH? Why can people deal with issues like Gentlemen anymore?

You're gonna do a big caper like that, you're gonna need Navy SEALS. They don't get caught.

Sneaking onto a golf course to dive in the pond and take inventory? That takes balls.

Baseless arrests, yet another violation of our rights. The gov’t constantly violates our rights.

They violate the 1st Amendment by caging protesters and banning books like "America Deceived II".

They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by allowing TSA to grope you.

They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars.

Impeach Obama, support Ron Paul.

Last link of "America Deceived II" before it is completely banned:

http://www.amazon.com/America-Deceived-II-Possession-interrogation/dp/1450257437

In a follow up to the story, all 8,000 balls were Obama the Dog Eater's. I guess his frequent trips to the golf course is his jobs plan.

We used to do this every summer as kids!

That's par for the course.

I've got some balls you can shine up.

They could be charged with trespassing, but I don't see how they could be charged with stealing the golf balls. The golf balls were the property of the golfer that hit them into the water and not the property of the golf course... simply because the golfer didn't retrieve the ball never conveyed the ownership to the golf course that would imply that if you forgot your wallet at the country club that once you left the wallet was theirs along with all the contents.

The golf club is only upset because they were going to STEAL the golf balls that were lost and resell them themselves.

I have been in the business for many years and have tried to have people prosecuted for this type of theft. The problem is that the golf balls are considered "abandoned property" so the most they can be charged with is trespassing. The country club doesn't own the golf balls since they were abandoned by the golfers.

The story didn't say the if courses retreive their own balls to recondition or resell. Do they do that? Or are they just worried about liability and break in (trespass).

I hear they are asking for a mulligan on this one.

They should have been wearing TSA uniforms. Everyone knows they can grab as many balls as they want with no repercussions.

The EPA will be along shortly to "reclaim" those golf balls for the Federal Dot.Gov, as they were removed from "wetland waterbottoms" and therefore part of the "natural habitat" of migrating waterfowl, blah, blah, blah...............

This is why the least government is the best government.

In Miami as a police officer in the early '60s, I was called to the Doral Country Club to arrest 2 scuba divers taking balls from their lakes. They were arrested for trespassing. On the court date, the State Attorney asked me is if would approve dropping the charges pursuant to the owner's request. I didn't mind but I went over to the very wealthy owner and asked him why. He told me that the two were going to pay him $2K per year for the rights to retrieve the balls. I said to him that I couldn't understand why he was doing that as $2K was chicken feed to him. He told me "Son, two thousand dollars in my business is nothing. But, two thousand cash that my wife doesn't know about is big bucks!"

That,s It! From now on, I'm charging the Golf course for the balls that their pond "ate", because,its only fair! The course, logically speaking, doesn't "own" those balls, the owners have lost them! Where does ownership, begin and end!! Time to get the Federal Courts involved!! (It could possibly go all the way, to the Supreme Court!!!)

It's awesome that a city official in a small town outside Chicago can steal $30M and get released on $4500 OR bond, less than the $5k for reclaiming golf balls. God bless AMERIKA

Typically, a golf ball retrival company pays the course between 25 to 50 cents per ball retrieved, the math says they stole between 2 and 4 THOUSAND dollars, a good take fofor any thief

so, how can be charged with both theft and receiving stolen property? it is one or the other...right? and i don't know the rules in PA...but if someone loses something on your property, and someone else recovers it...is that really theft...did the golf course ever really 'own' it?

Balls cried the Queen....if I had two I'd be King.

They had to have balls to pull this off.

Paid $16.30 for a sleeve (3 balls) of ProV1xs yesterday.......how can a get a hold of these incredible business people?

ETucker

Was there a sign posted saying that only authorized golf ball removal approved. I guess I should have to sigh a sheet that says while on the course no matter where on the course I am I am approved for golf ball removal! Once my round is completed my approval is pulled. I have seen signs for no fishing or swimming but I can't think of one that says no golf ball removal!

As high school kids we used to do it at country clubs (better quality balls than public courses). We did it without diving equipment. We used to get liquored up, go to the water holes and pick them up with our toes. 2-3 of us would get hundreds of good balls in an hour. Used to sell the $3-4 dollar Titleist ProV1's for a buck each. We made great money. We asked a guy who worked there one time who payed to get the balls out of the ponds and he looked at us like we were crazy. Said no one ever fooled with getting the balls out of the ponds. So not every course gets paid to have the balls retrieved.

Cop was tipped off, a little birdie told him.

This is what cops have to do when there is nothing to do. Book'em Danno!!

Wow, turns out I am a criminal. I had no idea! When I was a kid I lived across the street from the local Country Club golf course. In the evenings, after the golfers were all gone, we would go across the street and play on the golf course. It was a wonderful place to play and we were always very careful not to do any damage to the landscape or mess up the sandtraps etc. We would gather up all the golf balls and then sell them back to thr golfers for anywhere from 5 to 25 cents depending on the condition. The golfers would laugh when they found their own ball, we would call the dime a finders fee. Of course we were little kids and they thought we were cute.

a golf ball hit into the water is considered abondoned property. trespassing is about all they are guilty of. take it from a former owner of a used golf ball company who was cought a few times in his 36 year career ! ( i still made millions ! )

Why was he arraigned in Chester County when the course is in Newtown Township, Delaware County?

Newtown Police I read charged them with trespassing, Willistown charged them with theft and trespassing. So they had to pay the ticket first in Delaware County, then were arraigned in Chester County on misdemeanor theft.

To the scholar that posted from Swan Valley...
What high and mighty position do you hold with incorrect spelling like that. Good people make mistakes and learn from them. I am saddened by you finding joy in others problems. Their business is legitimate. Mind your own business...or man up and put your name with your comment!

The allegeged persons involved come from a town were their mothers home was broken into three times. The police did not even try to catch those bad guys. I guess this town has a fat bank roll of taxpayers money to spend on this!

I say good job to the young men who risked life & limb to clean out those ponds for them. They should get legitimate contracts from all the golf courses now. They know how to clean them ponds out good. It could be a great money making thing for both parties involved. They also would be good consultants for the courses on how to keep other poachers off their course.

The Police Officers should have said "boys Thanks for the pull our police station will put these to good use" That for saving our country a little more oil which these balls are made from. And also Thanks for selling these back to the everyday guy which now can spread a little more money around our town that he saved on half price used balls!!!

WHO ARE YOU TO PASS JUDGEMENT. THEY DID WHAT THEY NEEDED TO DO.
I HOPE THE CLUB HAS ENOUGH CLASS TO DROP THE CHARGES. (THIS TIME)

I GET BALLS OUT OF THE PONDS ON OVER 25 GOLF COURSES AND I WILL BUY YOUR BALLS