{"id":44203,"date":"2011-03-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/realistic-masks-used-to-commit-crimes\/"},"modified":"2011-03-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T00:00:00","slug":"realistic-masks-used-to-commit-crimes","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/realistic-masks-used-to-commit-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"Realistic Masks Used to Commit Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It appears that the criminal mind, which seems never to sleep, has devised a new approach to its craft&mdash;silicone masks, with a degree of &quot;ultra high realism.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>In Ohio, Conrad Zdzierak, pleaded guilty to using one of the masks to transform himself from a 30-year-old white man into a black character he called The Player, who carried out a string of robberies in the state. The disguise was so effective that local police mistakenly arrested a young African American for the crimes.<\/p>\n\n<p>&quot;We showed the picture [of the masked perpetrator] to his mother, and even she thought it was him,&quot; detective Keenan Riordan told reporters.<\/p>\n\n<p>The masks came from the Los Angeles company SPFX Masks, which sells &quot;movie quality&quot; silicone masks that incorporate human hair to achieve what its advertisements call &quot;ultra high realism.&quot; The company, set up to cater to the film industry, said that they&#39;re proud of the fact that the hand-painted products look realistic. However, they&#39;re concerned that the masks have been linked to a string of unsolved crimes.<\/p>\n\n<p>Zdzierak almost got away with his crimes, but his girlfriend found a large stash of money and turned him in to the police.<\/p>\n\n<p>What kinds of masks are you wearing? How many people have you fooled?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3743,4164,4199,4264,5200,5219,5240],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-44203","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-deceit","tax_ctp_tags-honesty","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-truthfulness","tax_ctp_tags-uprightness","tax_ctp_tags-virtue"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - 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