Strange

Linda Brown Incites Burlington Coat Factory Riot

by Blaine Metzgar | October 15, 2009 at 08:33 am

1085 views | 6 Recommendations | 3 comments

An Ohio woman, Linda Brown, pulled up to a Burlington Coat Factory in Columbus, OH in a Hummer limousine and announced to customers that she had just won the lottery and hence would be paying for all of their purchases. Sounds fair enough, right? Well unfortunately for the shoppers, whom Brown told to call their friends and family to get in on the deal, the supposed lottery winner's debit card maxed out after $5,000 and therefore incited a riot.

"I said, 'Are you sure, because I can't pay you for this.' She said, 'Honey, I've got $1.5 million, and I've been used all my life, mostly by my family members, and this is just my turn to give back, '" said shopper Carole Hubbard. She invited the customers to call their family to the store."Five-hundred dollars each -- tell your friends and your family. It ends at close today," Linda Brown said.

After Brown's debit card maxed out, sometime around 3 p.m., she said she was running to the bank to get some more cash but the too-generous-for-her-own-good mystery woman returned with no cash to show and in turn incited a riot in the outwear superstore.

Police arrested Brown on an outstanding warrant and she faces charges of inducing panic and fraud.

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caj1

at 15:21 on October 15th, 2009

Sounds like a nightmare for the store and the retail clerks. This store chain was started in Burlington, NJ, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.

dmills (not verified)

at 08:54 on October 17th, 2009

TRAGIC! All she wanted to do was help people.She didn't have the means but she definetly had the heart. We as a caring society with all of our useless wasteful spending, should take sum kind of initiative to do the same. This is a very wealthy city compared to others. We "buckeyes" should become more active in our communities. We have the means!