Crimes that left us shaking our heads in 2016

While some of these crimes were relatively small, they all had a dose of meanness.

Amidst 2016's typical parade of murder and mayhem, there were smaller crimes that stuck out as particularly galling.

They weren't the worst infractions of the year; plenty of murders get that distinction. 

Nor were they crimes that happened accidentally, or unintentionally. That left out traffic fatalities, no matter how tragic, and actions that flowed from mental illness, such as cases of animal hoarding. In order to make our list, someone actually intended to do harm.

Like Dante, we favor special circles in Hell for those who pick on the vulnerable: children, the elderly, animals. The traditional schoolyard taunt of disgust - "Pick on someone your own size" - carries moral weight with us.

That said, here are some 2016 crimes that took the cake for mean:

1. If you're that bored at work, read a book:

Two employees of a day care center in Cranford got their jollies by encouraging toddlers to fight each other - even dubbing their little project a "fight club." And filmed it as well. Erica Kenny, 23, and Chanese White, 29, each pleaded guilty to one count of four-degree child abuse.

2. Someone has to be the grown-up:

We expect kids to get in trouble on Halloween and do stupid things because they're young and stupid. We don't expect a grown woman to be their getaway driver.

Yet that's just what a 33-year-old woman in Lower Alloways Creek Township did when she drove two 14-year-olds around from 3:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. so they could deface property, including a school sign and some campers. Bobbi Franklin, of Quinton Twp., probably regrets her actions deeply, as it caused her to be fired from her job as an emergency dispatcher.

3. The vacation of your dreams - or not:

The wheels of justice continued to grind for the hundreds of timeshare owners who were victims of a vacation timeshare "consulting firm" that defrauded consumers by pretending to have arrangements with banks to cover loans.

In all, customers lost $3 million. Ashley Lacerda, 36, of Egg Harbor Township, didn't get hit with the 27-year prison sentence thrown at her husband Adam last year, for his role as the mastermind. But she did get sentenced herself to six years in federal prison - which is no vacation.

4. Stop hurting animals. Just....stop:

Apparently in some circles it's seen as amusing to sic a dog and cat on a neighbor's cat, then dangling it above the ground by the throat, and finally throwing it so it landed on a pool table.

That small-minded stunt resulted in Gary Schleinkofer, of the Burlington County town of Shamong Township, pleading guilty to unnecessarily cruelly abusing a living creature and unnecessarily tormenting a living creature. (The cat recovered, or else the charges would've been worse.)

5. What's wrong with this picture?

Something's clearly amiss when the director of a Head Start program - designed to help poor children catch up academically - drives a Maserati. 

A scheme by Robert E. Mays to trick the Jersey City Child Development Centers into believing his salary had been raised to $155,000 after just two months on the job lasted long enough for him to buy the fancy sports car and a mink coat, among other things.

Eventually his scam was discovered and he pled guilty to diverting more than $250,000 for his own use. Sentencing is in February.

6. Dude, not helpful:

National politics and world events have combined to give Americans plenty to think about when it comes to terrorism, immigration, and religion. There are many meaty policy issues that we need to debate and resolve. But vandalizing a Bayonne school where Muslims pray by spray-painting obscene taunts about the worshippers? Surely we can agree that doesn't move the debate forward. That's what Jonathon Hussey of Bayonne pleaded guilty to. Hussey is 20, so perhaps he doesn't know about these alternative ways to express his opinion as a citizen: Tweet, speak, march, picket...or vote.

7. A crime that casts low shadows:

A home health aide pleaded guilty to theft by deception for stealing $93,000 from one of her patients. Prosecutors said Debra Allen, 54, of Millstone forged checks and used the credit card of her 81-year-old man to buy clothes as well as pay for cosmetic surgery. The victim called Monroe Township police after the odd transactions were noticed by his local bank.

It's perhaps a garden-variety theft, but one we find especially heinous because it puts all home health workers in a bad light, and therefore unnerves the vulnerable elderly who need them the most.

Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.