Scams, bounties and cinnamon rolls: Nebraska's weird stories of 2022 – Omaha World-Herald

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Food Network star Alton Brown made many Nebraskans cringe when he put chili on a cinnamon roll, a method he erroneously dubbed “#LincolnNE style!”
No Alton Brown, we don’t dump chili on cinnamon rolls in Nebraska.
Stories big and small go into the makeup of a daily newspaper. Often, it’s some of the smaller stories that leave reporters and readers alike shaking their heads. Here are a few of the wild, weird or wacky stories that World-Herald reporters encountered in 2022.
Lincoln traffic signals take a beating
Lincoln police said the raised arm of an excavator being pulled by a semitrailer truck caused about $20,000 damage to traffic signals as the semi traveled along a downtown street.
Traffic lights at several intersections along K Street in Lincoln were damaged Jan. 9 when the raised arm of a John Deere excavator being hauled through town on a flatbed trailer struck the lights. This photo shows damage at Centennial Mall and K Street.
A police officer saw the arm of the John Deere excavator, which was on a flatbed trailer pulled by the semi, hit a traffic signal at 17th and K Streets about 10:30 a.m. Jan. 9.
Police then discovered that traffic signals at 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, Centennial Mall and 16th Streets also had been damaged. Some of the signals had been knocked to the ground as the semi headed east on K.
The 39-year-old driver, a Lincoln resident, was ticketed on suspicion of negligent driving.
Cat attacks after woman ‘put it in its room’ 
An Omaha woman called police for help controlling one of her cats after she threatened it with a timeout for fighting.
Police were called to an apartment near 37th and Dodge Streets about 5:15 p.m. Jan. 10. A 52-year-old woman told officers that her two cats had been fighting. She said she warned the more aggressive kitty that she was going to “put it in its room,” according to a police report.
The cat became enraged, the woman told officers, and began to attack her. The woman said she finally was able to corral the fierce feline and lock it in a bedroom.
The woman was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center for treatment of “multiple superficial claw marks.” The cat was taken into custody by officers from the Nebraska Humane Society. No word on whether the cat would face feline-y charges.
Cold spot to give birth
A newborn baby and his mother were taken to an Omaha hospital the morning of Feb. 13 after the birth took place outside on a pile of blankets just east of 24th and P Streets.
First responders were sent to the area about 10 a.m. Firefighters quickly located the newborn baby, but the mother had left.
Sheila Allee, who made the 911 call, said she was sitting in a parked vehicle with her boyfriend having coffee and a cigarette when someone told them that a baby had just been born outside. Allee investigated and found two women sitting among a pile of blankets with “a beautiful baby boy.”
The baby, which was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center, could be heard crying in the background as Allee made the 911 call. The temperature in Omaha at 10 a.m. was 16 degrees.
After giving birth Feb. 13 in 16-degree weather on these blankets near 24th and P Streets in Omaha, the baby’s mother left the scene. She was soon found and booked into jail.
Allee said the mother wrapped a black coat around herself and left before the ambulance arrived. The woman was found nearby and also taken by ambulance to the medical center. She later was released from the hospital and booked into jail.
Pursuit turns I-80 into parking lot
An April 21 crash during a Nebraska State Patrol pursuit of a speeding minivan on Interstate 80 caused a large traffic jam in Omaha during the morning commute.
One person was injured and another arrested after a 32-year-old Omaha man fled from a traffic stop and crashed on eastbound I-80 near 96th Street. The incident occurred at 8:15 a.m. and caused traffic to back up for about three hours.
One Omaha police officer described the scene as “a parking lot” during a radio transmission to a Douglas County 911 dispatcher. Officers were deployed around the area to block entrance ramps to I-80.
During the chase, the driver lost control and crashed into a concrete barrier that separates the eastbound and westbound lanes. The Toyota then struck another vehicle, a Chevrolet Impala, causing minor damage.
‘Kool-Aid man’ challenge ruins fences
Sarpy County sheriff’s deputies issued criminal mischief citations to nine juveniles accused of running and jumping into fences around the county, destroying property.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Blake Raughton said many of the incidents occurred overnight May 9 into May 10. He said up to eight homes in western Sarpy County — neighborhoods from near 156th Street and Giles Road spanning to Gretna — had fences broken. The estimated damage likely totaled several thousand dollars per house.
Raughton said one neighbor’s surveillance video showed three vehicles stopping in a street and about nine teens getting out. They talk and laugh for a bit, then most run into the fences, return to the vehicles and leave.
Raughton said the vandals’ idea may have stemmed from the “Kool-Aid man” challenge. In Kool-Aid commercials, the Kool-Aid Man bursts through a wall and brings the sweet, refreshing drink to thirsty children.
“It’s unfortunate that they think they have to do that because it’s fun or they’re having a good time, but what they’re really doing is destroying property of people who are working hard to provide for their families,” Raughton said.
Pilot walks away from plane crash
A 50-year-old pilot from Omaha walked away after his small plane crashed June 19 southwest of Plattsmouth.
The pilot, Eric J. Stadjuhar, was found at a home near 84th Street and McKelvie Road after he called 911, according to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
Stadjuhar, who was alone in the plane, was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha with facial injuries and possible back injuries.
Eric J. Stadjuhar, 50, of Omaha, survived a plane crash in Cass County on June 19. He told authorities that his 1963 Smith Miniplane had engine trouble before crashing into trees on a bluff near the Missouri River. He suffered facial and possible back injuries.
Deputies were notified at 3:50 p.m. by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Florida that a plane had been missing since 10:20 a.m. It was thought to have crashed.
First responders checked two locations without success before learning that Stadjuhar had called 911 from a residence on East Union Road.
Stadjuhar’s 1963 Smith Miniplane was found northeast of the home. He told deputies that the plane had engine trouble before crashing into trees on a bluff.
Filling a pool, but it’s not cool
An Omaha man was ticketed on suspicion of theft of services after someone noticed a garden hose running from a city fire hydrant to a backyard pool.
A 911 call about suspicious activity June 19 led officers to the area of 20th Street and Camden Avenue. Officers found a garden hose connected to a fire hydrant, leading over a fence into a pool.
While officers were investigating, a 59-year-old homeowner approached them and apologized. He then turned off the water and disconnected the hose.

In addition to theft of services, the homeowner was ticketed on suspicion of unlawful use of a fire hydrant.
Lincoln woman falls prey to scam
A Lincoln woman was scammed out of nearly $150,000, including more than $119,000 in gold, by someone posing as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
The 68-year-old woman told Lincoln police that someone called her on July 11 to report an unauthorized purchase of a laptop computer on her Amazon account. She later was contacted by a person posing as a DEA agent who told her that credit cards and bank accounts had been opened in her name in several states.
The remedy the fake agent proposed was for the woman to transfer all the money she could to a different account “to verify it hadn’t been laundered.” She then was told to withdraw a total of $30,000 and place the money in a bag outside her house to be picked up by an agent, who would leave a cashier’s check. The money was collected, but no cashier’s check was left.
The next day, she was instructed to purchase $120,000 worth of gold. She bought $119,294 in gold. Two days later, she was told to place the gold outside her residence to be picked up by an agent.
Approximately an hour later, she noticed the gold was gone. She became suspicious. She contacted the Lincoln Police Department, which began investigating her loss of $149,294.
That would really hurt
A 42-year-old Bellevue man was arrested on suspicion of making terroristic threats after he was accused of putting a $5,000 bounty on his stepson. The man told police he wanted someone to cut off the stepson’s testicles.
Omaha police officers were called to a meatpacking company near 36th and J Streets about 9:15 p.m. July 25. A 27-year-old Bellevue man showed officers a screenshot of his stepfather’s Facebook post offering a $5,000 bounty on him.
Police learned that a Douglas County judge had issued the stepson a protection order against the stepfather earlier that day. The protection order said the stepfather had come to the stepson’s workplace at least twice and threatened him over issues that he was having with his wife, the stepson’s mother.
Officers found the stepfather about 10 p.m. the same day. The man told police that had posted the offer and that he wanted someone to “chop off” his stepson’s testicles because he could not do it himself.
Don’t send anyone money
Here’s a tip: Don’t ever send anyone any money for anything. That way, you’re less likely to get ripped off.
On Aug. 9, a Lincoln police officer responded to a report of a fraud case. A 56-year-old man reported that he had met a woman on Facebook. During their conversations, the woman asked the man to send some cellphones to her in Nigeria.
As their communications continued, police said, the woman said she was going to come visit the man and bring with her $14 million in gold, noting that various fees and taxes would be assessed to transport the gold.
The man told police he thought he had sent the woman between $150,000 and $200,000 since February 2020. Most of the money had been transferred via gift cards and Bitcoin.
The man told police he performed an image search of the woman’s photo and found that the woman in the photo is a porn actress. It’s possible — probable? — that the actress and the woman the man was talking to were not the same person.
Internet no help for Lincoln man
An elderly Lincoln man who was trying to set up his new computer printer was scammed out of $25,000 after he searched the internet for help.
The 85-year-old man, who filed a police report Sept. 18, had been having difficulty connecting a new printer to his computer and searched for the printer model on Google.
The man found a link for assistance and was directed to a phone number. He soon provided someone on the other line permission to access his computer remotely. He later was notified of multiple withdrawals from his checking account totaling $25,000.
Officer trashes his own career
An Omaha police officer ticketed after dumping trash on a neighbor’s car resigned Nov. 14 from the department.
William Klees, 31, was caught by his neighbor, Quatisha Valentine, taking a bag of trash out of their apartment complex’s dumpster, ripping open the bag and emptying it on the hood of Valentine’s car Nov. 6. He then did the same on the car’s trunk, she said.
Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Klees resigned before an internal affairs interview. The resignation was accepted, Schmaderer said, and the Omaha Police Department sought a revocation of Klees’ law enforcement certificate.
Valentine’s apartment is near 20th and Izard Streets. She said that after repeated instances of finding trash on her car and discovering that a car tire had been punctured, she set up a camera in her apartment window and pointed it at her car. After she saw a man dump trash on the car, she said, she went outside to confront him. Valentine said she recognized him as Klees and had met him only one time, when he was wearing his police uniform. During that interaction, she said, they had talked about how long each had been living at the residence. She remembered that Klees said the only issue he’d had in the area were homeless people who were nearby. Valentine wrote that she replied that the people weren’t a problem.
Freshwater stingray stings Omaha zoo employee
An employee at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium was taken to the hospital Dec. 9 after she was stung by a freshwater stingray.
The incident occurred in the Lied Jungle.
The zoo employee was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition, according to a 911 dispatcher. That afternoon, zoo officials said the employee was doing well and would be leaving the hospital.
A zoo spokeswoman said the woman was working in the jungle and had been in the water on the lower level, which was closed to the public. A total of 19 stingrays live in the lily pond there.
One of them stung the woman in the ankle, its barb penetrating through her boot and wader. Four zoo EMTs responded and started treatment while waiting for first responders to arrive.
A sting from a freshwater stingray is painful but isn’t considered life-threatening. The biggest concern, zoo officials said, was that the woman could have had an allergy or developed an infection.
Celebrity chef fails at chili-cinnamon rolling
Celebrity chef Alton Brown committed first-degree food assault on Nebraska on Dec. 9 when he posted a video on Twitter showing him putting chili on a cinnamon roll, a method he erroneously dubbed “#LincolnNE style!”
Chili on cinnamon rolls #LincolnNE style! pic.twitter.com/ShH9EPxIj3
The video shows the Food Network star, apparently at a Runza in Lincoln, dumping three heaping spoonfuls of chili on a cinnamon roll instead of eating it separately like a normal person. He then made a face as if he were disgusted by the taste.
Brown later admitted his grievous error, but it was too late.
People on Twitter expressed their disapproval.
Denise Gutzmer replied, “They go together as in we eat them at the same meal, but we don’t mix them. That was upsetting, seeing you spoon chili over the cinnamon roll.” She finished the tweet with a frowny face emoji.
Bill Marks counseled, “Think of it like a steak and baked potato. They go together, but you don’t mush up the potato on top of the steak. That would be weird.”
Friday afternoon, Brown tweeted a message in which he shifted the blame: “Dear #Nebraska, you might have mentioned the part about eating the chili and the cinnamon roll SEPARATELY!”
World-Herald staff writers Alia Conley, Kelsey Stewart and Bob Glissmann contributed to this report.
kevin.cole@owh.com, 402-444-1272
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Kevin Cole covers Omaha crime and public safety news. Follow him on Twitter @KevinColeOmaha. Phone: 402-444-1272.
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After giving birth Feb. 13 in 16-degree weather on these blankets near 24th and P Streets in Omaha, the baby’s mother left the scene. She was soon found and booked into jail.
Eric J. Stadjuhar, 50, of Omaha, survived a plane crash in Cass County on June 19. He told authorities that his 1963 Smith Miniplane had engine trouble before crashing into trees on a bluff near the Missouri River. He suffered facial and possible back injuries.
Traffic lights at several intersections along K Street in Lincoln were damaged Jan. 9 when the raised arm of a John Deere excavator being hauled through town on a flatbed trailer struck the lights. This photo shows damage at Centennial Mall and K Street.
Food Network star Alton Brown made many Nebraskans cringe when he put chili on a cinnamon roll, a method he erroneously dubbed “#LincolnNE style!”
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