Stolen guitars alert

[Uncle Thor's Hamer]

Man, that sucks all the way around.

A good friend of ours here in Salt Lake City had a bunch of nice equipment stolen. One item was a custom made electric violin. Amps, pedals, etc were also stolen. The police took the report but then failed to really follow up with pawn shops.

You have to do the leg work yourself with pawn shops. They are supposed to send a list to the police of all items they take in, which is supposed to be compared to a list of stolen items. It never happened for our friend. She found most of her stuff in a local pawn shop a couple of months later. She even got a photocopy of the drivers license which the thief used when pawning the stuff and recognized it as one of the scum who had lived across the street from her. They had since moved, and the popo just shrugged their shoulders and said there was nothing they could do to track the perp down.

I am glad your family is safe. With luck you'll get your stuff back and the thieves will get some good jail time.

[sirskelt]

I hope they find whoever stole em'...and when they do, bring a couple of baseball bats, so you can find out which sound you prefer, the ash or the maple.

ALUMINUM! gives a nice THOINK! and it is easier to clean after the fact.

[hikarateboy]

So, I have an update sorry to bring this back up but I need some advice.

The thieves havent been charged but I am told they are making a case whatever. The police department continues to not impress. However...

I had installed Prey which is tracking software on my daughters 2011 imac that was one of the items stolen. 3 months in and nothing, then last week it started phoning home, sending pictures, screen shots, and tracking information to his home ip and all wireless networks in range so its mapped to the home pretty much. I also have the guy who has the imacs real name and gmail google + ids,

Here's the thing though, Its in California so suspect the thieves ebayed it. The guy who has it looks like a straight cut student and not shady although I see from screen shots he cruises the back page a bit for tranny escorts.

So I send the detective on the case all the information and he calls me and basically it goes like this:

Me: I tracked my daughters iMac and I have the ip, name of the guy, etc...

Detective: "yeah, you probably arent going to get the computer back as he probably bought it on ebay not knowing its stolen"

Me: Unfortunately thats his problem right and the police can go get it back.

Detective: He'll just say that he bought it off ebay not knowing its stolen.

Me: ???? Its Still mine though and I have proof. If he did buy it off ebay that might point back to a seller here in MN which might be the suspects.

Detective: who knows (clearly not interested) I can send the police a letter (a letter? Really?) to see what they will do but I dont think they will do anything.

It pretty much continued like this for another 5 minutes of him telling me how even though I know where my stolen property is and can prove it Im not getting it back.

Really?

The kid who has it seems like he is innocent (maybe a little kinky) but decent as I see from screenshots hes usually watching cartoons, doing homework or the occassional browsing of escorts. That said I dont want to just gift him my perfect condition 2011 imac.

Anyone have any experience with this? What should I do? I need advice.

[unfun75]

Can you find the transaction on eBay? If so, maybe you can start a case with eBay. I'm sure you have serial number, receipt, etc. showing you purchased it and you'll have the police report with dates proving it was sold after the fact.

[mathman]

I am no expert but I always thought if you buy stolen merchandise you had to forfeit it back to the owner whether you knew it was stolen when you bought it or not. Maybe it is a state to state situation where that doesn't apply.

[cmatthes]

Well, you can't legally sell or possess stolen goods. My first inclination is to see if there is a completed eBay transaction in the last couple of weeks between kinky CA student and the (most likely suspect) pawnshop that had your other stuff. I would take a wild guess that the nearby pawnshop is pretty experienced at liquidating stolen goods...

You could also take your story to a local TV News investigation team - they're always hunting for stories.

[Steve Haynie]

The transaction crossed state lines. Call the FBI and see if they can make a case for you. They may not have time, but you can press them anyway.

[BTMN]

Especially if it turns out it was a pawnshop.

Send kinky boy an email telling him about the situation. Mention in a non direct way how you know he has the device.

[hikarateboy]

The transaction crossed state lines. Call the FBI and see if they can make a case for you. They may not have time, but you can press them anyway.

I mentioned the federal wire fraud thing and I almost felt the spit from his laugh come thru the phone line.

[specialk]

Any chance of trying an initial consultation with a local attorney? See what they say? Other than that, the TV reporter and FBI are both good ideas.

Hoping for the best for you, Ted!

Sounds like a wonderful detective you're dealing with.

[mc2]

Sorry to hear about the theft, Ted.

My local precinct police on LI sound about the same as your's. No one cares and just pushes paper. Sadly, mine are the highest pais cops in the country and still do very little. I have three drug dealer houses on my block for years and nothing gets done about it.

Laughably, my place in New Orleans is actually safer! despite being a murder capital.

I woke up to being burglered a few years back at 2 a.m. The guy was two foot away from me going through spare change on my dresser and it woke me up. It was a local crackhead whose brother I know. The thief had my valuables piled up on the floor behind him when I woke up. By some miracle, I was able to talk him out of my house once he realized he was caught? I locked the door and since got a carry permit and a 9mm.

It is sad how lazy police have become. My dad was a retired NYC cop and my brother is a Fed, so I do respect law enforcement. But nowadays police seem to throw it back on the victims.

RECOMMENDATION....

1). Change your door locks to double-key type to make it harder for thieves to leave your house with big stuff once they get in.

If they cannot quickly get out the doors, they will likely just grab small stuff and climb back out a window.

Also, use real iron security storm doors on the exterior of you house in front of your wooden entry doors with wooden frames (easy to kick in.). You can usually find used iron security doors on Craigs List or at a Habitat For Humanity Recycle Store. Make sure you also do any entry door you might have inside your garage!!

Put interior locks on your vinyl/slider windows and patio doors. Metal interior security bars on first floor lower halves on double-hung windows. Security metal cages over window air conditioners that can easily be pushed in.

......if you do not have any friends who have been to jail....ask around. Everyone has a relative or friend who has been to prison. Best to use a guy who does breaking and entering to look over your house and tell you the weak points on how HE would get in!! You would be surprised what they will spot. After I though I bullet proofed my New Orleans place....local prison guy laughed and pointed out THIRD FLOOR wooden louver attic vent. Accessible from second floor porch roof...easy to kick in, enter attic, go down into main house...I immediately put up interior iron window bars.

Also...make sure you lock up any ladders you may have in your yard, chain them to a fence so a thief cannot use them to access your upper windows.

2) Contact the media and give them the story, to try and turn up the heat. The police don't like stories that make them sound incompetent. If the detective on your case is slacking off, his boss is not going to be happy reading about it. A reporter may also contact authorities or other media out in the area where your stolen computer is to follow up. That may get something moving out there.

3) I bought a couple of those camouflage remote cameras that hunters use that take time lapse pics or that movement will trigger. They save data to a computer card. When I am out of town! I set one at a central location inside my house and one outside. Crooks usually look for the typical home security cameras but not these, plus you can easily change locations. At least it gives you an idea what went on while you were gone.

IMO.....not too many things lower than stealing musical instruments or other tools an artist creates with. That ranks up there with robbing disabled folks or churches. A special spot in hell for people like that.

[gorch]

Obviously the police is mot your friend. So now you have various options.

- consult an advocate

- ask the policeman's boss

- make the story public so the police are being faced their disinterest.

- ask the NSA, they know everything (joke)

An Ebay case is another option that possibly would require any transaction number.

[Carl.B]

Ted follow up with your insurance agent. Insurance companies are always interested in going after these guy's and may contact the police nearest the kid who has your Mac.

[kizanski]

Anyone have any experience with this? What should I do? I need advice.

Unfortunately, I have had a good deal of experience with this very situation.

At my last job, one of my responsibilities was keeping track of our inventory of PCs in the facilities I managed.

The desktops were easy enough to watch, but the laptops would sometimes get stolen at show site (it was a trade show company) or the occasional car break in.

One particular laptop was stolen from the Baltimore Convention Center.

The user to whom the laptop was assigned, upon discovering the theft, called me and asked me what to do.

I said to call the Police and report it, so that we can get a theft report (that's what you would do if it was YOURS, wouldn't you?).

I get the report and I wait.

DELL allows techs in my position to order service and parts online, since the machines are on lease and we had paid for a higher level of service. As you would expect, with each occurrence there is, of course, a record.

So, one day, I receive a report for some parts having been ordered for this very laptop.

Now I have the name and address of the person currently in possession of the laptop.

I call Baltimore PD. The tell me that I need to call the local PD for that person's address.

I call THAT PD, a Detective listens to my story, and says he will get on the case.

After 1,000 phone calls to him, he tells me that this guy got the laptop from ebay, so he's an innocent party.

I tell him that I don't care who's innocent and who's guilty. I just want our property back.

It didn't matter that the current "owner" had the contact info for the guy he bought it from (likely the thief), or that I had a bill of sale stating that we owned it.

At one point he had asked how could I prove that we didn't sell it the laptop, playing Devil's Advocate.

I told him that they are leased assets, and if we don't return them, we get to buy them. Selling the laptops would be pretty costly.

Anyway, it seems that having the name and address of criminals isn't enough anymore, and the receipt of stolen property is no longer a crime.

Sorry Ted. That probably wasn't the "experience with this" that you were hoping for, but that's the way it is.

[Ting Ho Dung]

Did Ted get his guitars back? I remember one artist was supposed to be returned.

[MCChris]

Returning a stolen computer to its rightful owner is not the sort of thing that'll get a prosecutor re-elected. Not even close to being sexy enough.

Oh, and eBay sucks.

[kizanski]

Returning a stolen computer to its rightful owner is not the sort of thing that'll get a prosecutor re-elected. Not even close to being sexy enough.

Oh, and eBay sucks.

Agreed on all counts, but since when does a Detective care what motivates a Prosecutor?

You hand a guy to them on a silver platter and they can't be bothered. So, where's the deterrent to stealing someone's stuff?

Apparently, if you don't get caught in the act, you're off the hook.

It's very disheartening.

[MCChris]

The detective has his hands full with work that benefits the prosecutor. Frankly, I'm surprised you and Ted even got a dick on the phone at all.

The older I get, the more I realize that everything our parents taught us is horseshit.

[kizanski]

Yeah, well, I can't speak for Ted, but I can be a stubborn sonofabitch when I want to be.

[django49]

Yeah, well, I can't speak for Ted, but I can be a stubborn sonofabitch when I want to be.

The best kind!

[HSB0531]

There's always The A-Team.

[Crwth145]

The older I get, the more I realize that everything our parents taught us is horseshit.

Ain't THAT the freakin' truth...

[hikarateboy]

Thanks for all the comments. I did reinforce the doors jams with 36" of 1/8th in steel so the door will have to splinter before anyone kicks them in right after it happened so good there. Recommend everyone on this forum does that cause if you havent locks are useless. The thieves came in thru a pried open basement window within 14 days of the first burglary we had replaced all 9 with steel reinforced glassblock. Feeling pretty secure but I am planning on doing cameras as well but having trouble finding any good ones that upload directly to internet for a price one would consider reasonable.

After bring this up again someone contacted me with expert knowledge of this process. I am going to present the documented f-ups of this detective to his superior asking for my case to be reassigned. I'll go to chief if nothing happens with a message that the incompetence in this case is blatant to the point that anyone can see it and next stop is the media if they dont react.

We'll see if that helps. Insurance came thru but I still was out almost 5000 due to deductibles and not claiming first and smaller of the two losses. At this point I just want the bastards that did it caught, charged and prosecuted. Unfortunately the detective has done multiple things that likely have killed the case. ie. showing picture of one guy to witnesses and saying is this the guy? TWICE ! Having me send the picture to witnesses to find out (hearsay) really???????? ugh.

[FrankieIII]

I have a former client that has used this product (with excellent results) for the recovery of stolen laptops. This incident has got me thinking that in addition to a home security system it may not be a bad idea to leave an inexpensive laptop with no password and this software installed on it sitting in plain view in rooms with valuables for thieves to easily grab which could lead authorities to their whereabouts:

http://lojack.absolute.com/

My insurance agent said to keep on hand good photos of all guitar equipment (showing serial #s) along with an appraised value of each item from a reputable source on their company letterhead. And make sure your policy has enough coverage for the items you would want replaced should they all disappear at once, and select a suitable deductible. I believe either $250 or $500 is the lowest deductible most offer.

[LordOfTheThighs]

Wow ... what an ordeal.

Hopefully you'll get your possessions back, and the scum are executed .... I mean brought to justice, (Freudian Slip).