5 Real-Life Public Poopers Straight Out Of 'American Vandal'

"American Vandal" took viewers by storm last year with its pitch-perfect take on true-crime investigations such as "Making A Murderer" and "Serial." Now, the hit show and its ace reporters, Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck), are back, this time investigating the mysterious “Turd Burglar,” a prankster terrorist plaguing an upscale private school in Washington State with poop, apparently in an on-the-nose (or in-the-nose) attempt to show the school how “full of s---” they are.

Like the first season’s obsessive deep-dive into “who drew the dicks,” Season 2 takes an uncomfortably close look at a novel twist on a similarly all-American form of mischief: The phantom pooper. After binging the season on Netflix, we took a look at some similar fecal felonies (OK, some were misdemeanors) that rocked communities at home and abroad.

Pooping Super
High school wouldn’t be high school without a phantom pooper, so this school leader allegedly took fecal matters into his own hands (well not literally, we hope) to provide this fundamental cornerstone of American education to the students in a neighboring school district.

According to police, Thomas Tramaglini, 42, the superintendent of Kenilworth Public Schools, was busted in May for allegedly defecating repeatedly on the field of nearby Holmdel High School, which is part of the Holmdel Township Schools District.

While this doesn’t rise to the level of the Turd Burglar’s infamous "S--- Launcher" stunt, in which the poop prankster tricked a cheering squad to shower a pep rally with feces, the sordid and mysterious—and alleged—actions of of the poopin’ super could easily be the subject of Peter Maldonado and Sam Ecklund’s investigative fervor.

Brisbane Pooper

Just as American Vandal’s crack reporting team frequently ensnare popular and powerful people, this phantom-pooper saga in Brisbane, Australia, led cops to an unexpected culprit: A member of the Brisbane City Council’s Inclusive Board and a manager of one of Australia’s largest operators of retirement communities, according to the Courier-Mail.

Andrew Douglas MacIntosh, 64, was arrested in June after a neighbor in the Brisbane suburb of Greenslopes caught the alleged “Poo Jogger” dropping trou and relieving himself on a pathway, the Courier-Mail reports.

McIntosh, who like at least one teacher in season 2 of "American Vandal" was forced to resign for his antics—no spoilers, watch the show!—stepped down from his position as national quality manager for the company Aveo, and was slapped with a $364 fine, according to the Courier-Mail.

Tim Hortons Pooper
Some poopers are motivated by revenge, others by convenience. Still other poopers have motives that remain a mystery until they are uncovered by teenage reporters with shockingly high production skills. The motives of the infamous Tim Hortons pooper, who let it fly in May in a British Columbia donut shop, appear to be some mix of the first two, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

The woman in question, whom police did not name, is accused of popping a squat inside a Tim Hortons in Langley, southeast of Vancouver, and flinging the stuff at workers, CBC reported at the time. According to the CBC, the woman's fecal fury was feuled by her anger at being denied access to the bathroom.

Denver Jogger
In another case of repeated public pooping, the Denver area was captivated last year by the case of the “Mad Pooper,” a woman who reportedly terrorized a Colorado Springs family by stopping numerous times to defecate on their lawn, according to the Denver Post.

The poop parade began in August of 2017, when the mysterious excreter was caught relieving herself on the lawn of a woman who caught her in the act, the Post reports. But rather than vanish in shame, the Mad Pooper returned again and again, despoiling the property at least once a week for seven weeks, according to the Post.

Unlike the Turd Burglar in "American Vandal," the Mad Pooper remains at large.

Kentucky Pooper
Not all public poops are phantom. In a recent episode that would make the creators of "American Vandal" proud, a woman in Richmond, Kentucky, came up with a novel way of getting back at officers sent to arrest her for an earlier, non-poop-related crime: Release the "crappen."

Amanda Peters, 26, was arrested Friday after police received a call about an auto theft. Although the suspect was gone, they picked her up on a separate warrant for auto theft, officials told Oxygen.com. But rather than go quietly into the night, Peters allegedly “released her bowels,” spraying a sheriff’s deputy with feces, police said.

[Photo: Netflix via YouTube]