A nickel might not have much purchasing power these days, but, in Chamblee, Georgia, charging your Nissan Leaf with five cents’ worth of electricity can land you in jail.
After driving to Chamblee Middle School, where his 11-year-old son was playing tennis, Kaveh Kamooneh took the opportunity to charge his vehicle at one of the school’s exterior outlets. He claims that he charged his battery for 20 minutes—enough for an estimated five cents’ worth of electricity. But then he was spotted by a police officer, who gravely informed him that he was committing a crime. “He said that he was going to charge me with theft by taking because I was taking power, electricity from the school,” Kamooneh said.
Kamooneh wasn’t arrested on the spot. Instead, the officer filed a police report. Eleven days passed before deputies knocked on Kamooneh’s door with a warrant for his arrest. Kamooneh spent 15 hours in jail. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be prosecuted for theft.
