[Yojimbo]

Man splashes office with paint, police say

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times


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Incensed over too many postcards about missing children and meat sales, an Upper Valley man dumped paint on a receptionist at a West Side direct marketing company, police said.

Richard Gesell, 49, of the 5600 block of Green Castle, was shouting profanities in the Advo Direct Marketing office Monday, police said. He insisted he had called many times and wanted the mailings stopped.

When the receptionist tried to summon a manager, Gesell pulled two half-gallon cans of white paint from his truck. Police said he poured paint from one half-gallon on the receptionist's desk and computer and then splashed paint on the employee. He tossed the second can onto the walls.

Gesell's mother, Ruth, said her son suffers from depression and needed medication. She said junk mail grates on his nerves.

"You get so much," she said. "You start spilling your mail all over the ground and making a mess. No matter what you say, they keep sending it. He's called everybody."

After his paint protest, police said, Gesell fled in a white 1991 Ford Ranger. Police stopped the truck on Rio Grande Avenue and found Gesell at the wheel with white paint on his face. He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and felony criminal mischief. He was booked into the county jail under a $7,750 bond.

"It's a very odd incident we have here," police spokesman Javier Sambrano said. "It had the potential to get worse. It was just paint, but this individual did have a gun in his vehicle."

Gesell was also charged with unlawful carrying of a handgun.

He also had a small white dog with him in his truck. Police turned the pet over to Animal Control.

Medical emergency personnel tended to the paint-splashed victim, removing some of the paint and giving him advice about how to clean off the rest. The man declined to be taken to the hospital, police said.

Tuesday at Advo, a local company, visibly nervous employees declined to comment, saying the business's owner was still gathering information. White speckles covered most surfaces of the small reception lobby, including blinds, armchairs and a candy machine, and the gray carpeted floor was stained white.

[Chip20045]

hahaha! rofl!


yeah, i've wanted to do something like that a couple of times lol.....

[OneWithTheMud]

heh... stupid junk mail

[Kori]

Thanks goodness! you have been my inspiration! haha

*runs off and exits his house, slamming the door behind him*

[Otaku]

My mom use to work at a junk mail company.