DUMB CRIMINAL OF THE WEEK: FILM STAR CROOK
by Hazed
Criminals who are on the run would be advised to keep a low profile, to avoid coming to the notice of the police who are hunting for them. This is advice Jason Stange failed to heed.
He was a bank robber who was wanted for violating his probation. He pled guilty to an armed bank robbery in 2006 and was sentenced to ten years in prison. But he absconded from a “halfway house” facility last July, which violated his parole. A warrant for his arrest was issued.
So police were surprised when they spotted him in publicity stills for a low-budget horror film called Marla Mae. Jason had taken a role as Dr Lourdes, an abortion clinic doctor who commits a “deranged act”. His image was then shown in an article publicising the film in a Washington state newspaper.
Police recognised him so headed to the film set in Olympia, Washington State, and arrested Stange in a restaurant close by. He was in costume at the time, but they allowed him to return his clothes to the set before they carted him off to jail.
The producer of the film, Brandon Roberts, said that Stange had been well-liked by the cast and crew of the film, and that he was a talented actor who had “really nailed the audition”. Fortunately for the production, the film had just wrapped when he was nabbed by the cops. The film is scheduled to be released next year, assuming producers can secure the financing. I would think this publicity would help a great deal!
Stange’s footage will remain a part of the film, but since he is likely to be back in jail then, I doubt he’ll get to see himself on the silver screen when it’s released.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/28/jason-stange-marla-mae-convicted-bank-robber-arrested-horror-movie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4809590/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
