Better to have loved and lost than be mocked in a weekly newspaper. Valuable advice that comes too late for Trent Spencer, an Edmond, Oklahoma, high school teacher who thought his crumbling marriage would be saved if his wife saw him as an action hero. Of course, he didn't want any real trouble, so he paid a couple of his students $100 each to stage a robbery.

Everything went almost as planned. The two masked students broke into Spencer's home and bound his wife with duct tape. Trent entered and a choreographed brawl, complete with breakaway wood plank, ensued. Deviating from the script, Spencer's wife freed herself and called the police, who rushed to the scene. Once in that deep, Spencer decided to stick to his story. Unfortunately, the two bad guys were quickly picked up, and Spencer had to come clean. He was promptly taken into custody and now faces charges of filing a fake report.

» Scott Saxon