The Jumping Castle Arsonist

(upbeat music) Hey, I'm Tara Sarabhan and you're listening to World's Dumbest Criminals. If you're keen to hear about the most ridiculous, bizarre and downright stupid criminals and crime stories in the world ever, you've come to the right place. In today's episode, you'll be hearing about the owner of a party hire company who was so obsessed with being Melvin's most successful jumping castle operator that he firebombed his competitors. A drunk dude who broke into an airbnb full of cops to take a nap and more. Alrighty, let's get cracking. When you think of cutthroat industries, the party hire business is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Suburban Melvin Karney, James Balcombe, started his party business awesome party hire in 2006. But it seems fairy floss, snow cones, popcorn and karaoke machines as well as arcade games didn't turn out to be the golden goose. James hoped they would be. After having a conversation with his brothers neighbor, Andrew Celeba, who runs extreme party hire, he learned how lucrative the jumping castle business was. So in 2019, James invested in bouncy houses to expand his struggling business. James and Andrew later fell out after each accused the other of copying their ideas, which is pretty rich. See, I don't think it's possible for someone who did something first to have copied off the person who did it later without a time machine being involved. And trust me, this story is weird enough without any back to the future plot twist action. It turned out that being a somewhat successful jumping castle operator wasn't enough to stoke the fires of ambition burning inside of James. Having a little taste of success gave him a blazing addiction to the stuff and he obsessed night and day about how to become the most successful party hire and jumping castle operator in all of Melvin. He seems to have tried to do this legitimately at first. He hired consultants to enhance his company's online marketing and website and, you know, make sure their SEO was on point. But that wasn't enough to make him the king of the industry in Victoria. And his balding, malered head was just itching for the crown. In fact, his hairstyle was somewhat indicative of his business model. Party in the back? Pretty much nothing in the front. Unable to dominate the industry while operating within the confines of the law, James turned to more nefarious methods. In late 2016, he put together a rag tag little gang of goons to do his dirty deeds dirt cheap for him. They were led by his former party hire staff member Craig Anderson because you just know that someone who couldn't cut at supervising jumping castles and mechanical bulls is bound to be an expert at arson and sub-defuge. James put his head, Goon Craig, and his two minions to work by instructing them to set fire to rival party hire businesses, telling them to burn the places to the ground. He supplied his goons squad with the businesses, names, and addresses, and paid them $2,000 for every rival business they fireballed, like the bouncy castle super villain that he is. He'd then monitor the country fire authority website to check on his team's progress. On December 19th, 2016, the Goon squad poured petrol through a broken window of CRP taps in where I'd be and set it alight. However, the fire failed to fully take and the owner later reported just minor damage to the police. Hours later, the hired Goons headed to James' former mate, Andrew Salieber's business, extreme party hire and tell him a ring, where they poured petrol from a Jerry can and set a truck alight. James was unimpressed with the lack of destruction reigned down by his minions and later told them off a failing to cause more damage. The summer of 2016 and 2017 became one of fear and devastation for the Melbourne party hire industry, with James repeatedly sending his goons out to Molotov cocktail his competitors and put them out of business. If the fires they set failed to burn the competition to the ground, James would send his twisted fire starters out to the locations again and again until they did. His old mate, Andrew Salieber's company, Extreme Party hire, was targeted on four separate occasions with Molotov cocktails being hurled into his warehouse through broken windows, causing $40,000 in damage. Andrew later said in a victim impact statement that he watched his CCTV monitors for hours that summer, and that he and his wife Samantha were so scared of being firebombed that they slept with a fire extinguisher in their bedroom. He stated, "It was a very stressful and frustrating experience as we waited for the next attack." ANA jumping castles in Hopper's Crossing had been a family run business for over 10 years before James set his menacing sights on them. The fire his team started by hurling a Molotov cocktail through a smashed window, took hold inside the building and completely destroyed its contents, including 110 jumping castles. The bastardly blazed caused 1.4 million damage and the company's owners Michael and Aileen did not have insurance, so they were forced to shut down their business and find employment elsewhere. Aileen later stated in court that she and Michael lived in fear following the attack, worried about what else they might be subjected to. She said, "Eight seconds is all that took to destroy 18 years of our livelihood." Judah has demented desire to put his competitors out of business and she had disregard for their safety. James masterminded further attacks, including at Bailey's bounces in Warrigal and Melbourne's Sumo Party hire in Kisborough. There was actually a man sleeping inside the Kisborough premises when the attack occurred. Fortunately, he was able to escape the burning building unharmed. By now, James' ruthless crime spree had garnered the attention of the police, who launched an investigation into the fire bombings. In March 2017, when James heard the cops were investigating the fires, he left containers of fuel in a storage shed on his kangaroo ground property, which was insured for more than $1 million. Then he instructed his hired goons to set his own business on fire to divert suspicion from him. Dozens of jumping castles, a limousine and a mechanical ball all went up in flames. James then tried to fraudulently claim an insurance payout for his business and was arrested days later. He was charged with 11 counts of conspiracy to commit arson and was released on bail. He was due to appear in court in December 2018, but he no-showed. After giving his lawyer a fake medical certificate to explain his absence, James packed up his family and went on the lam, heading to Perth to start a new life under assumed names. Going by the name Paul Johnson, James disguised himself by wearing a wig and growing a long beard. He then hid in plain sight by playing bass guitar in a ZZ Top cover band. Okay, that last bit about the ZZ Top cover band isn't true, but in a case like this, it totally could be. James spent over a year hiding out in Perth and unwisely started another party hire business. I mean, who the hell goes into hiding and tries to stay in the same industry they were in before? So a good man didn't start another law practice after he went on the run, and you'll find nobody in the witness protection program is continuing their careers from before either. It's going on the run 101, but James as ego was more inflated than his jumping castles and he failed to see that. He also stupidly began creating fake postage stamps, which is how he garnered the attention of the Australian Federal Police. While investigating Paul Johnson, the wig wearing beard growing counterfeit stamp maker, they came to realise he was actually James Balcombe, the power-hungry flame-loving jumping castle fugitive. James was arrested in August 2020 after the AFP informed Victoria Police of his whereabouts. He pleaded guilty to stamp and weapon charges in Western Australia and received a fine before being extradited to Victoria to face arson charges. He was also jailed for two weeks on a false document charge for previously using a fake medical certificate to get out of court. Last year James pleaded guilty to 11 counts of conspiracy to commit arson. Judge Stuart Bale stated that while James's focus was to advance his own business by organising the arson attacks, the damage had gone way further than that. He said, "It impacted the lives and livelihoods of others, caused significant loss, suffering and emotional trauma. You could have changed your mind when you saw the damage caused to the property. You could have pulled back, stopped, but you did not." In April. After all this year, 58-year-old James was jailed for up to 11 years. Two of his to-wisted via starter hired goons both pleaded guilty to arson charges. Craig was sentenced to eight years and six months, while another man was sentenced to two years and four months. When I was researching this case, I came across a customer review of Awesome Party Hire, which sounded pretty on brand. It read, "Extremely poor service from staff. The staff picked up the jumping castle two hours earlier than expected and the ruse the children out of it. When I contacted the office regarding this, the staff member accused me of lying and hung up. Maybe if it's spent more time on customer service and less on Molotov cocktails, none of this shit would have happened." In June 2021, several sheriff's deputies from Montana traveled to Milwaukee to attend an emergency vehicle training course. They rented out an Airbnb to stay at while they were in town. Now, any criminal with half a brain would steer clear of an Airbnb full of big, burly cops and yet here we are. In the wee hours of the morning, a drunk 19-year-old guy entered the property through an unlocked door, found himself an empty bedroom, got into bed and went to sleep. Which is a dodgy, god-y lock stunt to pull. I mean, I wonder if he ate their porridge too. Or was it too hot? One of the deputies, Charles Pissola, runs the TikTok account at Sheriff Canine Misty, where he posts videos of himself and his police dog Misty. He made a funny video about the Airbnb incident. Let's take a listen. "Story time would have been. " "Well, apparently a drunk dude crashed with us last night that we don't." "He's been taking away, though. I'm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my buddies doing some police training. And we're in this Airbnb in downtown Milwaukee." About 2.30 in the morning, I heard some crashing around upstairs and I thought it was this guy going to the bathroom. "It was me." So this morning Matt says, "Hey, Charles, you got home late." And I was like, "No, it was like 11.30." So then we realized one of the doors is open. That night I started walking around the house while Nelson's in the shower. And Matt finds this dude laying in a bed in our house. "Dude, I broke into the house in the middle of the night." This silly guy found the one Airbnb in all of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "Loted with cops. He woke up in handcuffs. We called Milwaukee Police Department. They came and took him wherever they took him and we're on our way to training." "No, we're renting. It's here, we're in need." "Oh, we're renting." "That's gonna be for the one for the lucky end?" "Exactly, I think I can." "No, this is the first for that I've broken up in the frame of the case." "The crime doesn't stop and Milwaukee needs our help." "We guys in Milwaukee." So the guy was so drunk he had no idea where he was and he didn't remember how he got there. He said he'd woken up in a lot of random places before but never in a house full of cops. In a follow-up TikTok, Charles said that the deputies didn't press charges and that the 19-year-old didn't end up going to jail. It seems he simply entered the wrong house by mistake. In an interview with WISN12, Charles stated that it had been a pretty lucky situation for him. "What if that dude stumbled into a bed with a kid or my wife? I mean, it could have been a different morning, right? So, Ron plays a wrong time, lucky place, lucky time that there's dudes that actually know how to handle that. He had no idea where he was. He had no idea where he thought he was and he didn't know where he came from." To finish up, I have a few punchline crimes for you. These are short cases that sound more like jokes than something that actually happened. On May 9, 2022, some sticky-fingered folks stole 16 statues from a 300-year-old Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh, India. The thieves must have been some mussely mofos as their haul included three idols of Lord Bology, made of copper and weighing around 10 kilograms each, and four brass idols weighing around 15 kilo apiece. They also helped themselves to several silver ornaments used to decorate the deities. But it seems stealing the religious idols wasn't without a downside and the people who took them found themselves experiencing some seriously bad juju. They felt so haunted and tormented that six days later, they returned 14 of the stolen idols, placing them near the house of the temple's chief priest. They also left behind a confession letter in which they said they were returning the idols because they were having nightmares. The note begged for forgiveness from the priest and said, "We have not been able to sleep, eat, and live peacefully. We are fed up with the scary dreams and are returning your valuables." The authorities had not been able to identify the thieves or the whereabouts of the two unreturned statues, which is a shame. I have questions about what kind of scary dreams they were having and why they didn't return all the idols. Did they spend the six nights trying out different combinations of them and different locations to see which ones were causing the nightmares and decide that two were benevolent? Or had they already born the two statues off to an unsuspecting punter who didn't realise they were hot and have been living some kind of Hindu version of nightmare on Elm Street ever since? We'll never know, but let this be a cautionary tale for anyone considering pillaging religious artifacts in future. I'm looking at you, Indiana Jones. The following story not only takes tree hugging to a whole other level, but it also gives us a new definition of having wood. You know it's going to get old penisy, don't you? It is. According to Wales Online, on June 16th this year, a naked man was arrested for allegedly kissing, caressing and having passionate sex with a tree at a public park in England. I mean personally, I wouldn't call it sex, it's more like wanking with a splintery prop. The nature level was caught on camera, undressing and rubbing himself against the stump of a conifer tree. All those conifer trees of a bit of all right aren't they? A witness said they were walking in the park with one of their mates when they saw the man hugging the tree and thought, "Hmm, well that's a bit interesting. Did he accidentally sign up to the dating app timber instead of tinder?" As they walked closer, they saw him take his shirt off. They started filming the man kissing the tree, but decided to stop when he pulled his pants down and began making sweets we'd love to it in front of around 25 mortified parkoers, who did not come there that day hoping for a woodpecker sighting. A spokesperson for the Wiltshire Police said, "Officers were called to Queen Elizabeth Garden shortly after 4.30pm, following several reports from members of the public regarding a naked man." He was taken into custody on suspicion of indecent exposure and has been released on bail while inquiries are ongoing. I just hope he used protection, because the world doesn't need any more fatherless trees. In February 2022, a 24-year-old man was arrested in Boston after allegedly trying to get into the Franklin Park Zoo's Tiger enclosure. The zoo says biology student Matthew Abraham broke into the venue, which was closed at the time by climbing over a gate. Then he allegedly climbed over multiple barriers and ignored signs telling him to stay out of the area near the enclosure. Workers say they noticed him in a restricted area behind the Tiger Tails exhibit at around 8.45am. Two officials stated that when he was approached by staff, he scamp it off, climbed over a gate and quickly exited the area. Zoo security caught up with him and detained him. He was evaluated by Boston Emergency Medical Services and deemed mentally competent. Then the police arrested him on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct. After he was released on bail, Matthew gave several interviews to news outlets. And for some reason he insisted on awkwardly holding his violin and bow while talking to the press, though he did not play it. Perhaps it's his emotional support violin. Matthew told WCVB that he wasn't trying to get into the Tiger enclosure because he didn't want to be eaten alive. No. He claimed the whole situation was just a big misunderstanding and he thought the zoo was open. Nobody tried to charge him admission. His defence was essentially that the gates were open so he couldn't be trespassing. When asked why he had gone to the zoo that day, he had a rather interesting reply. Let's have a listen to the WCVB Newsegment. "See, there's something called the eye of the tiger. They say the eye of the tiger, the most dangerous thing you've seen in your whole life." "Was it your intention to get close enough so that you could look directly into the tiger's eye?" "Yes, they say that the soul is visible through the eye." This brings me to the end of the episode. Thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe if you want to stay up to date with all ridiculous future episodes. And if you dug what you heard, please leave a review. Thank you, Paulie 46 from the USA for doing so. And I'm happy to report that the aliens have released me. I think it's because I kept making them look at pictures of my dog. They thought it was cute at first and then they were like, "Ah, this mouthy broad is driving us nuts. How many pictures of a dog does she have?" The answer is infinity. If you'd like to support this independent podcast, head on over to patreon.com/worldsdummerscriminals. All levels get accessed to monthly bonus episodes and add free episodes. And higher levels also receive a mechanical ball and a conifer tree. You were sexy sexy conifer. I recently released a new Patreon episode. It was about the legend of the movie Elepricorn from an Alabama news segment that seems far too bizarre to be real. And a woman with a violent streak who started a brawl at a pub after telling another woman that she was going to defecate in her shoes. Good times. If you're up for more dumb criminals action in your life, you could follow me on Instagram @worldsdummerscriminalspodcast or Twitter @wdcriminalspod. Or you could join our world's DUMMERSCriminals podcast Facebook group. And thank you to these "Dupendous Lorraine Leadwell" for running the group with me. Till next time, look after yourself, stay out of trouble, and whatever you do. Don't commit a crime that makes you end up on this podcast.