The charges wouldn't hold up in court, but they're good enough to keep a number of local celebrities jailed in area shopping malls during the annual American Cancer Society Jail-A-Thon that started Tuesday.
Through Friday, Nov. 3, Cancer Society jailers will be arresting suspecting and unsuspecting volunteers who will be locked up until they make bail by gathering pledges for the Cancer Society."Inmates" raised approximately $70,000 in Salt Lake County during the Jail-A-Thon last year. The goal this year is to top $100,000, said Carla Glasker, communications director for the society. The opening day started off well with one celebrity inmate acquiring pledges totaling $1,700.
Tuesday's inmates included a "10 Most Wanted" list of area residents, including Utah Jazz President Frank Layden, Deseret News social services writer Lois Collins and KSL television anchorman Dick Nourse. Layden was accused of habitually violating the laws of average while Collins was indicted on charges of inciting a reason for a consideration and Nourse was allegedly caught by cameras dispensing verisimilitudes. (Don't bother looking it up - it's just what you think.)
For a $20 donation to the Cancer Society, anyone can file a complaint and get a warrant for someone's arrest during the four-day event. The charged friend will then be picked up and hauled off by an official Jail-A-Thon sheriff to the nearest Cancer Society jail to be arraigned before the judge and tossed in the slammer.
While in custody, the jailbird is allowed more than the traditional one phone call and can dial at will to solicit tax-deductible pledges from friends, family members and associates.
Cell blocks have been constructed at Crossroads Plaza, University Park Hotel, Fashion Place Mall, Valley Fair Mall, Cottonwood Mall, Layton Hills Mall and JC Penney in the University Mall.