"Tase Me, Dad!" Team Charged

Remember that weird story out of East Troy about the Waukesha guy stealing a Taser stun gun from an East Troy police officer?

The guy and his dad made a video of themselves tasing each other and posted it on YouTube. That incident goes back to New Year's Day.

On Wednesday, the father and son Taser team were charged.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The father and son duo who appeared on YouTube stunning each other with a Taser gun stolen from an East Troy police officer were charged Wednesday with illegal possession of an electric weapon.

The felony charges were filed against Paul M. Crowell, 22, of North Prairie, and Paul J. Dupey, 41, of the Town of Waukesha, in Waukesha County Circuit Court after authorities tracked them down from the video clip posted on YouTube hours after the Taser was stolen on New Year's Day.

Police say Crowell, also known as Paul M. Dupey, took the Taser when he was warming himself in a squad car after his car had gone into a ditch in Walworth County.

The video shows Crowell and his father taking turns holding the probes and firing the Taser, according to court records.

East Troy Police Chief Alan Boyes had said his department discovered the Taser was missing a short time after the theft occurred and saw the video on YouTube within one or two days of the theft.

What's with the son using two names? Is he an admirer of Michael McGee, aka Michael Jackson?

I still would like an explanation as to exactly how police found the YouTube clip.

It's not like they were able to discover it after they confiscated computer equipment from the father's home. Someone had to tell the police.

The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department searched the father's home in the S5100 block of Big Bend Road on Jan. 3 where they recovered a Taser and confiscated a camera and computer equipment, according to the search warrant.

During their investigation, the detectives interviewed a woman on Jan. 2 who said Crowell showed her the Taser and told her that he and his father had shot each other and made a video.

And a man who dates Crowell's sister told detectives he was asked to bring his videocamera to Dupey's home so that Crowell and Dupey could be filmed as they tased each other, the complaint says.

Most likely, the woman and the man who dates Crowell's sister tipped off the police about the YouTube posting.

Apparently, Crowell's sister isn't his father's daughter. She must be Crowell's half-sister.

The cooperation of the man who dates the sister and the woman interviewed on January 2 had to be important in solving the crime. They obviously weren't willing to lie for Crowell and Dupey.

Let this be a lesson to all:

Don't take a police officer's Taser, show it to others, and get someone to take video of you playing with it so you can be a star on YouTube.

It's a recipe for trouble.