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Man cites 'Passion,' confesses burglary
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Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” has touched millions of Americans spiritually — including a repentant burglar who turned himself in Sunday in Mesa.
About 3:30 a.m., officers were checking a burglar alarm set off at Yakety Yak Wireless, 1840 W. Southern Ave., when Turner Lee Bingham, 20, walked up and confessed he had taken $80 from the register, police and the store’s owner said.
He also said he was responsible for five or six burglaries at other places. “He had made some mention that after watching the Mel Gibson movie . . . that was his motive for turning himself in,” said Mesa police detective Ruben Quesada.
“It is a first,” Quesada said.
Tobias Bright, the store’s owner, told KNXV-TV (Channel 15) that Bingham came back to the business and apologized about eight minutes after the alarm sounded.
“I’m a Christian man, but I just kind of wish he thought about that 20 minutes earlier, before he took a baseball bat to one of my windows,” Bright said. Bingham had seen the movie with his mother, and he felt guilty, Bright said police told him.
“I’ve seen the movie myself,” Bright said. “I think it’s the kind of movie that makes you stop and think about things for a minute.” Bingham told officers he threw the money from an overpass to U.S. 60 below, Quesada said.
Police did not find the money. Bingham was booked into Maricopa County’s Madison Street Jail in Phoenix on suspicion of felony burglary.
“If you’re going to be burglarized, I don’t think it could turn out any better,” Bright said. “At least for me, you know?”
- ABC 15 News contributed to this report.
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