Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Case of the Pertinacious Patron


Disgruntled library patron ready for court. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 3/29/2012)

Excerpt: Ryan Herle knows the feeling, but it's the real cops that nabbed him this week for overdue books. Yes, that happens, at least in Cudahy, where they take their unreturned library materials very seriously. 

He insists he returned several books in April 2010 by their due date. The Cudahy Family Library says he didn't. At the moment, Herle is on the hook for a $114 fine, plus $152 in restitution to the library. 

"I am not responsible for their errors. Nor will I ever, for any reason, compensate them for their incompetence," Herle said in one of several lengthy emails he sent to me. He's invoking the Constitution and a couple of its amendments, not to mention probable cause, due process, equal protection, you name it. 

"Apparently, every crime in Wisconsin has been solved, and all the guilty punished. Otherwise, why would the state deplete resources in short supply to arrest and prosecute a citizen over an overdue book," he said. 

Herle, 36, claims he never received the citation sent by the Cudahy Police Department in December, probably because he moved out of Cudahy last June and is now staying with a friend in Greendale. He missed a Cudahy municipal court date in January, causing a warrant to be issued.

Wonder if this is the same Ryan Herle?
Here.  (Stingl column notes that Herle is 36, would have been born in 1976
Here.

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