The Associated Press reports that Chad Alvarez, 23, a University of Wisconsin student, plead guilty in an unusual criminal case. The crime was committed when the young man reportedly stole his roommate’s pet Parrot named Lago.

According to the fraternity’s code of honor, that’s not the sort of thing one does to a collegiate brother. But wait, it gets worse. While the colorful South American bird was in Chad’s custody the bird passed away. You knew the plot would thicken, didn’t you? This is a lesson in life. When we do bad things it always gets worse. Now Chad has a corpse to deal with.

In court, Circuit Judge William Foust said actions of this kind demand a response. True, Chad admitted his crime and appeared to be truly repentant. He said there wasn’t a day went by that he didn’t regret his actions. He apologized for the anguish his misdeed caused both his roommate and his parents. But Chad never did explain why he did it.

On the day of the trial Chad entered a plea of "no contest" to charges of felony theft and mistreatment of an animal resulting in death to the animal.

Judge Faust shook his head in disbelief as he sentenced Chad to 250 hours of community service and levied a $1,000 fine to be assigned to the Dane County Humane Society. Chad was also ordered to continue with psychological counseling sessions.

The court still doesn’t know if Chad really understood that placing a live parrot in a microwave oven — four minutes on high power — would be harmful to the bird’s health.

KIDS - - DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!

We hear that Chad is looking for another roommate, hopefully one that doesn’t have pets.