File this one under distinguished graduates, Washington State University, class of 2001. AP reports that in Yamhill County, Oregon today, the Oregon Panty Bandit, Sung Koo Kim, pled guilty to charges of theft and burglary for stealing bras and panties from laundry rooms at George Fox University in Newburg and Linfield College in McMinville, in an alleged four-county spree that police say yielded more than 3,000 bras and panties, many labelled with places, names and dates.

Mere garden-variety kinkiness you say, but wait. Kim, who still faces charges in Benton, Multnomah and Washington counties, was also in possession of seven assault rifles and three computers bearing a total of some 40,000 images of women being dismembered, raped and mutilated, according to authorities. Kim had maintained his innocence until today's plea, although one of his serial attorneys had pondered a diminished capacity defense. He's looking at five-and-a-half years in prison resulting from today's guilty pleas.

If only he'd met a nice girl. But an obsessive-compulsive disorder on this apparent order of magnitude begs an exegesis. After he serves all his time, and undergoes professional counselling, Kim can write a theraputic tell-all book, which will sell like hotcakes and get optioned for a Quentin Tarantino film treatment. America's funny that way.

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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 2, 2005 10:27 PM