COLUMBUS, Ohio — A father-daughter team was arrested after police found 15 tons of stolen popcorn, worth nearly $50,000, stacked from floor to ceiling in a two-car garage.

James T. Conway Jr., 48, and his daughter, Jennifer, 22, were arraigned March 6 in Franklin County municipal court on charges of receiving stolen property. The 30,000 pounds of Act II brand popcorn were stolen a month earlier along with an unmarked trailer from a nearby ConAgra Foods plant where the popcorn was produced. The truck, which was headed for a local Walmart at the time, has yet to be recovered.

Police found the 1,920 cases of the golden kernels in Jennifer Conway's home while they were investigating the Jan. 19 murder of an Ohio State University student. Jennifer's older brother, James III, has been charged in that crime.

James Conway, who lives across the street from his daughter, told police that the popcorn was his and that he purchased it in bulk to sell for a profit.

UPPER MALBORO, Md. — An alleged sock bandit who for weeks tricked girls into going barefoot has finally been caught, police said.

Derrick Cobb, 25, approached teenage girls, between 12 and 14 years old, on the local streets and convinced them to remove their socks, claiming he was conducting a survey on brands of footwear, authorities said.

Once the girls removed them, Cobb would grab the socks and run. On one occasion in February, Cobb allegedly knocked down a 14-year-old girl, who had just stepped off a county school bus, before snatching and fleeing with her socks.

Cobb was arrested on March 7 on a warrant for an unrelated theft charge, police say. He was later charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor theft in connection with the sock thefts, after a mother of a 13-year-old victim called police, according to a spokesperson at the Prince George County police department.

Police, who say it is unclear why Cobb wanted the socks, were able to identify him from a store security camera.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — If you're applying for a job as a police officer, you probably should not tell the interviewer that you own an unlicensed handgun.

Gilbert MacConnell was arrested during a Feb. 28 interview when he bluntly told an officer that he owned a handgun but didn't carry the necessary permit, according to Police Chief James Strillacci. In fact, police say, MacConnell told the officer that the gun was outside in his car.

MacConnell, 35, already had passed the written and oral exams as well as a physical agility test prior to the interview. This step was part of a new screening process that helped the department prioritize its applicants before conducting costly background checks, Strilacci told Court TV.

MacConnell was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit and having a weapon in a motor vehicle.

Before he was booked, police say, MacConnell had one question: "Does this mean I'm not getting the job?"

MINDEN, La. — Six prisoners assigned community work as part of their sentences found a cooler full of beer and drank enough to get legally drunk, police said.

The inmates, who were collecting rubbish on the streets outside the jail, were able to conceal the drinking until they returned to the compound and a supervisor smelled alcohol on one of them, according to a spokesperson for the Webster Parish sheriff's department.

The inmates were immediately placed in disciplinary lockdown and stripped of their prison privileges. The guard in charge of supervising the work crew was removed from his duties and reassigned.

Inmates are supposed to be watched closely while on work detail to ensure no one takes swigs from discarded alcohol bottles or picks up money along the road, according to authorities.