The hunt for "Plasma Pat" is on

It's fine to look for deals. If you've fully researched (that is, read Sound & Vision regularly and enjoy our thorough test reports) the home theater equipment you're looking to buy, there are few reasons not to shop around for the best price. Custom installers and high-end retailers generally offer far superior customer service, but if you can find that 65-inch plasma you've been looking for at Wal-Mart for a few hundred dollars less, then more power to you.

If you're looking for that plasma at a Wal-Mart in Florida and a man named Pat tells you he can get it to you for a few hundred dollars less, however, look elsewhere.

Police in Largo, Florida are looking for "Plasma Pat, the discount TV guy," a man who claims he swindled up to 30,000 people out of their cash with promises of a better price on a TV. According to the police, "Pat" meets people outside of Wal-Mart, tells them that he can get them an employee discount, then takes their money and leaves.

Okay, so it's not exactly something out of Die Hard. Still, he has made a habit of calling the Largo police and taunting them with stories of his crimes, so at the very least I imagine him as sounding exactly like Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons.

The Largo police suspect "Pat" is really Joseph Wesley Torma, and have released a mug shot of him from a recent arrest in Polk County, Florida. They believe he may have left Florida for Texas, but haven't explained why.

Will Greenwald

[Source: CNN via Gizmodo]

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