Weird news

weird news

Loose chicken gets caught

A Maine animal control officer had been on a mission to find a loose chicken when he decided to whack a few branches, exposing a black fowl lurking below.

The Kennebec Journal reports that Paul Frye last Thursday solicited the help of another officer and two nearby citizens to wrangle the bird, saying it took four people to not "look stupid doing it."

The bird was captured and is being cared for at Officer Brad Chase's home. Police say it had been roaming the area for weeks. They're not sure who it belongs to.

Frye says the department has received more calls about loose chickens in recent years because more people are raising birds at home farms. Chase had to catch another chicken in March.

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Man fakes death to avoid prison

A commercial fisherman who faked his death to avoid incarceration for a sexual assault has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say the Coast Guard spent $384,261 searching for 35-year-old Ryan Meganack after his girlfriend, who was part of the scheme, reported him missing off Port Graham.

Meganack in 2016 faced state charges of sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman.

Investigators determined he swamped his skiff, returned to Port Graham on another boat and hid out near his mother's home. He planned to flee Alaska when the search ended.

The plan went awry when Meganack's girlfriend confessed to his grieving parents that Meganack was not dead.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ordered Meganack to serve 15 months in prison consecutive to his 15-year state sentence.