“Star Wars” has been a much beloved movie franchise for 4 decades. As with any great science fiction movie, fans become very attached to the characters and story lines. Fans who love to escape reality can become a bit too obsessed with films like “Star Wars”. Since the “Star Wars” franchise came out with its prequel movies beginning in 1999, fans who may not even have been alive during the first three films have become drawn to the “Star Wars” films. Unfortunately some extreme fans have used “Star Wars” characters, props and stories to commit crimes including theft and assault.
Here are 5 instances where “Star Wars” caused crimes in real life.
Assault and Theft as Darth Vader
In October 2008 a pizza delivery driver in Kissimmee, Florida found no one at the home he was sent to. When he returned to his car a man dressed as Darth Vader surprised the delivery man and attempted to rob him. As the pizza guy drove away, “Darth Vader” shot him with a stun gun. Fortunately, Darth Vader didn’t have a light saber during the attack.
Robbery Spree Committed by Darth Maul
Darth Maul is a Sith Lord from “Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace”. He is trained using a double edged light saber to kill. In 2013 a man dressed as Darth Maul robbed 4 San Diego 7-Eleven stores at gunpoint in one night. In each robbery no one was killed but the perpetrator took off with $100 from each store. Again, fortunately the robber did not use a double edged light saber to attack.
Theft of Star Wars Collection
Last month a “Star Wars” memorabilia collector was indicted in Texas for stealing a rare prototype Boba Fett figure from a private collection. The figure is worth about $40,000. When the private collector noticed the figurine was missing from his collection, he reached out to the “Star Wars” collectors community. It was discovered that a California collector had purchased the figurine from Carl Cunningham. Cunningham is now suspected of stealing over 100 pieces of “Star Wars” memorabilia. His thefts could total $200,000. Some of the stolen items have been recovered.
Darth Vader assaults and robs at movie theater
In 2005 as “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” was released, a man dressed as “Darth Vader” robbed a movie theater where the film was being shown. This incident occurred in Springfield, Illinois. Because of the movie being shown, theater employees were not too shocked to see someone dressed in a Darth Vader mask. However the man assaulted a theater employee before steeling cash from the theater box office till. The culprit was chased into the woods but not immediately caught.
Star Wars vs Star Trek
Fans of “Star Wars” and fans of “Star Trek” can be pretty one sided during a debate between which film franchise is better. Recently an argument over “Star Wars” vs “Star Trek” became physically violent. In Oklahoma, two young men continued an ongoing debate over the movie franchises. One of the men got frustrated and walked away but returned to physically assault his friend. The man choked his friend nearly to the point of unconsciousness and the victim of the attack reached for his own pocket knife. Police had been called and the attacker was arrested and taken to jail.
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