Corporate exec exposed as Australia’s ‘poo jogger’
AFTER STREETS IN A BRISBANE NEIGHBOURHOOD WERE BEFOULED ABOUT 30 TIMES, LOCALS SET UP A STING OPERATION TO CATCH 64-YEAR-OLD PUBLIC DEFECATOR IN THE ACT
THE CRIME
For more than a year, residents of Greenslope say, the man they dubbed “poo jogger” defiled neighbourhood streets some 30 times. And it was not some sudden, primal urge while out for a morning run — a call of nature that anyone with sudden gastrointestinal distress could empathize with. The poo jogger’s potty breaks reeked of premeditation: Right next to his droppings, the poo jogger frequently left used toilet paper.
THE STING
According to Australian news site News.com.au, vexed and apparently tech-savvy neighbours at one point set up a hidden camera with night vision capabilities to try to catch the pooper in the act. The camera didn’t capture any definitive images, but the amateur sleuths had something to work with: a rough approximation of what time of day the public defilement occurred. Resident Steve Smith decided to take matters, and a camera, into his own hands. He secreted himself in a piece of shrubbery in the early-morning hours, lying in wait for the poo jogger. It was a rare instance in which a man hiding in bushes taking photos of someone defecating be- came a neighbourhood hero. “I was there a few mornings, and then last Friday I got him,” Smith told news.com. au. “There’s a red light which goes on before the camera’s flash goes off, and he saw that and looked at me as the photograph was taken. Then he just said, ‘Hello.’ At that point I decided to just walk away.” Smith posted the photo on a neighbourhood bulletin board, and the police were soon involved.
THE CULPRIT
Andrew Macintosh, a national quality manager with Aveo Group, which owns retirement communities, and also a member of city council’s inclusive board that makes recommendations about how the city should grow, was charged with being a public nuisance. In court this week, he was ordered to pay a $378 fine, according to the Courier Mail. He no longer works at Aveo. “Aveo Group is distressed and disappointed at the alleged incidents concerning Mr. Macintosh. He has tendered his resignation ...,” the company said in a statement obtained by the Guardian. “Aveo will continue to extend its support to Mr. Macintosh for help that he may require,” it added.
THE OTHER POOPERS
Macintosh now finds himself part of a pretty gross fraternity of public defecators. In May, Thomas Tramaglini, the 42-year-old superintendent of Kenilworth (New Jersey) School District, was arrested after he was seen defecating on a high-school football field, as The Washington Post reported. And residents of a Colorado Springs neighbourhood have been infuriated by a woman they refer to as “the Mad Pooper.” Cathy Budde, her children and their neighbours keep finding the brunette woman’s feces and the napkins she uses to clean herself along a running path, The Post reported. Budde has snapped photos of the woman, and even confronted her in person, but she doesn’t know her name.