MAN TRIES TO PAY HITMAN WITH NASCAR MEMORABILIA

Just another "Ford" vs. "Chevy" argument gone wrong:

Your local yellow pages doesn’t feature a “Hitman” or “Murder for Hire” section, but if it did my guess is none of the ads would include the phrase “We accept cash, check, credit card and Kasey Kahne collectible pins.”

Today’s PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE introduces us to Allen Bridges, 53 and his 18 year-old son Jacob of Everett, PA who were unaware of the fact that NASCAR memorabilia is not an accepted form of currency.

Allen, who was already locked up in Bedford County jail on charges of selling the powerful painkiller, fentanyl, was in need of a hitman to take out witness testifying against him. The down payment received for such services would be “a bulging black trash bag” containing a portion of Allen’s NASCAR collection.The hitman who would meet Allen’s son Jacob to receive his payment was not actually a hitman, he was “state police Detective Steve Shelley posing as killer for hire” thanks to a tip from fellow inmates of the Bedford County jail to the police. Allen and Jacob “have been charged with solicitation of murder, conspiracy and retaliation against a witness.”

As if those charges and the jail time that awaits them wasn’t bad enough, Allen’s collection was also called “a bunch of junk” by Bedford County District Attorney William Higgins.