An upstate New York man tried to hide his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated by scooping up all the local newspapers in town.

Deputies arrested 43-year-old Joseph Talbot on drunken driving charges in Wayne County late last week, according to the Times of Wayne County.

He was also charged with refusing to be photographed or fingerprinted, telling police he wanted to keep the incident out of the local newspaper.

When that didn’t work, he tried to buy as many copies as of the Times as he could, some 900 copies at $1.25 apiece, the newspaper said.

The paper had written a story on Talbot’s arrest and included a mugshot, in both the online and newspaper versions of the story.

The newspaper simply restocked the paper after Talbot’s buying spree.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Credit: AP