Wedding crasher

Time ran out for a luxury watch trader to pay his debts to his clients and the countdown to his prison term started ticking.

Anthony Farrer, owner of the shuttered watch consignment store, The Timepiece Gentleman, located in Santa Monica, California, USA, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents for alleged fraud.

Based on the federal criminal complaint against the 35-year-old, Farrer's social media posts of Patek Philippes, Rolexes and other pricey watches worth up to $430,000 each attracted victims who agreed to let him sell their timepieces in exchange for a 5-percent commission.

However, Farrer allegedly did not return the watches he was supposed to sell, nor deliver orders to buyers after they wired their payments to him.

Between November last year and this summer, Farrer allegedly scammed customers out of $3 million, the US Attorney's Office of the Central District of California said, according to CNN.

Investigators said Farrer pocketed customers' money from the watch sales and used it to maintain his lavish lifestyle, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Mississippi resident Sandra Lynn Henson's own criminal enterprise seems resilient despite her repeated arrests and warnings from her victims.

The 57-year-old Henson was busted last 30 September when a guest at the wedding of Lexi and Brady Butler at Lily Creek Farm in Belden, Mississippi, caught the uninvited woman stealing $200 from her purse, Fox News reported.

Henson, who is currently on probation after a prison stint for similar crimes, pleaded guilty to petty larceny, trespassing, and disturbing the peace for the wedding intrusion, and was ordered to pay a $650 fine. She was again released on probation, shocking the bride.

The serial wedding crasher kept a notebook with lists of weddings to target scoured from The Knot website, wedding planner Kait Dorrough said, according to Fox News.

Henson has been gatecrashing nuptials in three states since 2021, stealing tens of thousands in cash and gift cards from guests, but is always released on probation after paying fines, the report said.