Minnesota "ball slasher" busted again

Christopher Neil Bjerkness, 33, was arrested in Duluth, Minnesota for breaking into a physical/occupational therapy treatment facility with the reported intent to slash the large exercise balls there. Why would he be suspected of wanting to do that? Because he's been busted for doing it before. Twice. According to the Duluth News Tribune, it's a "sexual fetish." From the Duluth News Tribune:

In 2009, Bjerkness was convicted of third-degree burglary after he admitted breaking into the SMDC-Duluth Clinic West building and slashing balls there.
He was also convicted of first-degree criminal damage to property in 2005 after getting into the Sports and Health Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth on several occasions and damaging exercise balls. He also admitted at the time to slicing into exercise balls at the SMDC Center for Personal Fitness, the Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Center and St. Luke’s hospital, according to criminal complaints.

"Duluth 'ball slasher' arrested again"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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guillaume_remy

Is this a SFW cover of a Frank Zappa song or what ?
Snig

I know a PT who can’t bring his dog in his practice as the dog thinks the balls are the enemy, and he’ll bark incessantly at them.
Teller

The “B”, I think, is silent.
Anonymous

Very clever way to keep his disability check coming. Yep, blue balls is definitely a coming disease. I like to sit on them but they smell funny.
Anonymous

“Duluth Ball Slasher” was my porn name in the 80′s.
GuyInMilwaukee

Wow that headline is cringe-worthy. ouch…
- Kosmoid
  
  Cremasteric
Alenonimo

Where’s the cat?
TheEvilJeremy

While this guy sounds like a jerk, I’m relieved to say that he doesn’t hold a candle to the monster I envisioned upon reading the title of this post.
Anonymous

Seriously? Is that what we OTs have to endure to get into the news?
lknope

First, I’m amused that the ball in the picture is blue.

Second, is part of the fetish that he slash balls that don’t belong to him? It seems like he could easily stay out of trouble by buying his own.
- Anonymous
  
  Perhaps he wouldn’t get the same “rush” from slashing his own balls…
- bcsizemo
  
  I thought the same thing when I read this. Time in jail or just go down to wal-mart/amazon and pick up a couple of balls for when the “urge” hits.
  - Anonymous
    
    Buy balls would be too much like prostitution. You have to meet them in their natural setting and woo them with your wit and charm.
Anonymous

Guess he’s Tactile Seeking . . .
Anonymous

Sooo…mentally ill patient does not receive treatment for obvious anti-social disorder, instead locked in cage?
what is this, 1510?
- BW
  
  What do you mean by mentally ill? That he suffers from a debilitating condition which prevents him from being able to control his actions. A paraphilia is not necessarily a mental illness. Just because someone is eccentric, which this man is definitely, does not absolve responsibility to not destroy other’s property. To treat people with mental illnesses as completely irresponsible non-members of a society is to remove them from society, stigmatize them and marginalize them.
  - BW
    
    This is what I meant to post:
    
    What do you mean by mentally ill? That he suffers from a debilitating condition which prevents him from being able to control his actions? It is not clear that this is the case. A paraphilia is not necessarily a mental illness. Just because someone is eccentric, which this man is definitely, does not absolve responsibility to not destroy other’s property. Furthermore, to treat any person with a a mental illness as a completely irresponsible non-members of a society is to further stigmatize them and marginalize them. Of course this is not to say that there are not mental illnesses were the person can be expected to be held accountable for her actions, but this probably is not the case here. Furthermore, he may actually be required to get mental health counseling upon his conviction.
- eaglescout1984
  
  I think NAMBLA would agree with you.
emmdeeaych

it takes balls to perpetrate such a crime
Anonymous

I think there’s a range of object fetishes which may be problematic in a similar manner.

Consider the case man who managed to get himself banned form all NHS hospitals:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1664491.print/
Lobster

Always someone looking to bust your balls…
Anonymous

Ah, there’s my hometown making me proud again. Why is Duluth always home of ball-slashers and deer-humpers?
Micah

“Bjerkness” sounds like what we should call certain denizens of 4chan.
SeamusAndrewMurphy

If he sat on them instead, he’d just increase his chance of dying.
BadCat!

Not that I want to make my neighborhood appear even pervier than it already does, consider that the ball-slasher is only miles away from the deer fucker: http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/9881/WI/US/
Susan Oliver

Treibball may be just what your PT needs, Snig.
PaulR

Just think what he could have done with a F***/Sawzall…