Stolen Stuff and the Pawn Store...

[s_x_i]

I'm asking in here to see if I can get a response before I call an attorney... I'm fuming mad that this could happen, I wondered if you guys had any insight.

A good friend of mine just had her house broken into by someone she knows. The guy took a bunch of stuff, basically all he could carry, to the pawn store and got him some cash for a fix.

The police said the best course of action would be to ask him for the pawn tickets, buy their stuff back and then pursue him in civil court...

What?

I'm confused... how can this be? Does my friend have any other recourse? How can they not arrest this POS, get her stuff back from the pwan shop and have the shop be out of pocket? Are they not in fact handling stolen goods?

She and her husband live paycheck to paycheck, and, since they have no way of getting their stuff back, and it's Christmas an all, I'll probably end up getting it out for them... are they just being fed BS by the cops who don't want to fill out reports on a crackhead pawning stuff, or are they really just screwed?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[shhak]

I know exactly what you're talking about. Back in 2001 I was building a 93 GT and had about $3500 worth of parts stolen out of my garage. Almost every part was bought off of ebay. It wasn't very long before I found out who did it (one of the perks of a small town). I went to the police (I filed a report when it happened) and told them where the parts were at. They did absolutely nothing. So, I took matters into my own hands. I knew this kid pretty well. I waited till he went to work and went and got my stuff back. Every last piece of it.
Guess what!!! I was arrested a few weeks later for it. We went to trial and obviously they couldn't get me for stealing the stuff because I had proof of buying it. But they did stick me with a burglery charge. Even a felony!!! I was like WTF???? They said I was guilty of "breaking and entering" even though his garage door wasn't locked. I'm still trying to get that off my record. It's costs me several thousands of dollars at work because I can't take assignments in Canada and such.
Buying the stuff back is about the safest way to do it. Even though it should be the last thing you have to do. Good Luck!

 

[MoToCoBrA]

^^ Thats just wrong man, i feel for you.

 

[wvmystichrome]

Something liek that happened to my father before he passed away. We had a small hardware store. Someone broke into it and took all the power tools and stuff like that. Several thousand dollars worth of stuff. They then took it to the pawn shop and got rid of it. Police came and investigated it and was told what store it was at and if he wanted the merchandise back go and buy it back. It sucks but thats the way it is. We just had someone come to where I work and on video stole parts off of our repos. Local LEOs said tough. License on car does not belong to the car in picture so we can't do anything. We have an eye witness who caught the guy in the act. Called the police and recorded license number along with the video evidence but tough luck to us. I feel for you.

 

[Juruense]

Call the county police and see if they will help you. If not call the state police and see if they will help you. If not call the district attorney's office and ask for guidance.

Stealing is stealing and receiving stolen property is illegal last time I checked.

 

[s_x_i]

I'm going to go ahead and call my Attorney... any more input?

 

[kbm450]

Just hurry and do your business the longer you wait the more chances the stolen parts will get sold.

 

[shfd739]

Something similar happened to my wife and I a few years ago. our house was broken into and the kids stole what they could carry. One item happened to be a cellphone that we just had disconnected. Turned out Sprint didnt turn it off so every few days I would call Sprint and get the incoming and outgoing numbers. I work in our 911 center part time and could trace the landlines to their addresses. I gave all the info to the detectives and nothing was ever done. They closed our case without doing any action. I knew some of the the addresses as drug houses and homes where stolen goods were kept and so did the detectives but nothing was done. About two months later our neighbors house got hit by the same kids and nothing was done then either. We knew it was neighborhood kids due to some other neighbors seeing them outside our house.

 

[FordSVTFan]

I'm asking in here to see if I can get a response before I call an attorney... I'm fuming mad that this could happen, I wondered if you guys had any insight.

A good friend of mine just had her house broken into by someone she knows. The guy took a bunch of stuff, basically all he could carry, to the pawn store and got him some cash for a fix.

The police said the best course of action would be to ask him for the pawn tickets, buy their stuff back and then pursue him in civil court...

What?

That is her best action if she wants her stuff back right now.

I'm confused... how can this be? Does my friend have any other recourse? How can they not arrest this POS, get her stuff back from the pwan shop and have the shop be out of pocket? Are they not in fact handling stolen goods?

Does she have receipts for each item that has a serial number so the exact item can be identified? Do the items have some marking that is unique to her. Are the items so unique that she could prove they are hers (i.e. a necklace with her name in stones and an inscription)? The shop owner has to use reasonable procedures to not accept stolen goods. What procedure did the shop owner use?

She and her husband live paycheck to paycheck, and, since they have no way of getting their stuff back, and it's Christmas an all, I'll probably end up getting it out for them... are they just being fed BS by the cops who don't want to fill out reports on a crackhead pawning stuff, or are they really just screwed?

If they called 9-1-1 a patrol car should have been dispatched and a report made. If they just called with this story, they would need to go down to the P.D. and speak to a detective to file a report.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Advise your friends not to associate themselves with crackheads and to mark their property in an identifiable way that is unique to them.

 

[s_x_i]

Advise your friends not to associate themselves with crackheads and to mark their property in an identifiable way that is unique to them.

Lol - best advice ever! :lol:

 

[FiaCobra]

Without the stuff being marked in a certain way, or without you having the serial numbers, it's almost impossible to prove proper ownership.

I know, it sucks dog balls.

 

[carrrnuttt]

I know exactly what you're talking about. Back in 2001 I was building a 93 GT and had about $3500 worth of parts stolen out of my garage. Almost every part was bought off of ebay. It wasn't very long before I found out who did it (one of the perks of a small town). I went to the police (I filed a report when it happened) and told them where the parts were at. They did absolutely nothing. So, I took matters into my own hands. I knew this kid pretty well. I waited till he went to work and went and got my stuff back. Every last piece of it.
Guess what!!! I was arrested a few weeks later for it. We went to trial and obviously they couldn't get me for stealing the stuff because I had proof of buying it. But they did stick me with a burglery charge. Even a felony!!! I was like WTF???? They said I was guilty of "breaking and entering" even though his garage door wasn't locked. I'm still trying to get that off my record. It's costs me several thousands of dollars at work because I can't take assignments in Canada and such.
Buying the stuff back is about the safest way to do it. Even though it should be the last thing you have to do. Good Luck!

Wow. Did the idiot that stole from you in the first place get charged with anything?

 

[PSUCOBRA96]

you should have gotten a better attorney or one in the first place, if its your stuff you have a right to recover it as long as it is within a reasonable time period, and you can prove it is your own. Did they charge you with trespass to land or just breaking and entering? I'm just curious what exactly it was as most states have laws allowing those to recover stolen property, but if you wait too long you are sometimes required to get a court order before entering the property, every state can difffer in respect to certain laws

 

[PSUCOBRA96]

also if you ever want to recover the funds for the property you had to re-purchase you are almost certainly going to have to go to court, you also mightwant to inquire into the fact that maybe the pawn broker knew he was purchasing stolen goods that way you have two people to possibly recover from, just gives you more options, but your best bet is to get an attorney and litigate it in civil court...good luck and yeah thieves suck!

 

[sohowcome]

Oh a question I can answer!

I used to be a pawnbroker and our procedure at two different pawnshops (one in Iowa and one in Illinois) was to record as much identifying information about the item being pawned/purchased. This information would include; a description of item (weight & style of gold items for instance,) serial/model number if applicable, etc.

In Illinois a pawnbroker is required to hold their "buys" for three days until they can be sold and the reason is for what is described above. The LEO in both shops I worked in would receive an electronic file at the close of each day with all the buys/pawns for them to compare against any stolen item reports they may have. In addition to any "Buys" an Illinois pawnbroker is required to hold a pawned item past its 30 days for an additional 30 days to offer protection to the person requesting the loan, this is trivial since most people who are selling stolen goods will not ask for a pawn but will most likely want to sell it outright.

As long as the shop is doing the right thing by providing the LEO with the proper information on all their buys/pawns the person whose goods were stolen does not have recourse against the pawnshop itself. The pawnshop is the one who loses out by purchasing stolen goods; they lose the item and the money given for it.

HOWEVER, there is good information if your friends stuff is found, there should be a record of the person bringing in the item, you can only sell or pawn with a valid state issued photo ID (IL and IA for sure) so finding the person should be fairly easy.

My suggestion would be to have her file a police report and they should be able to contact the shop in question for a record of received items.

It almost sounds like your friend knows this person, which brings us back to what my dad always said which was, "Don't hang around people with questionable characters unless you want to be drawn into whatever bad things they have going on in their lives." If she does know the person and doesn't want to file charges the other way would be to take the pawn tickets down to the shop with the person and have them bought back; however, the shop owner has no obligation to sell said items back for what he bought them in good faith for, he might sell them back to gain something just in case she filed a police report and then he would risk losing out on the items/money. That is dependent on his tolerance for risk and his judgment of the situation.

Hope this gives a little insight from someone who has been on the other side of the counter and had to make purchases from people who were of questionable character.

 

[bright blue]

My wife's uncle stole her engagement ring and a couple of bracelets that I had bought her. He took some of it to a pawn shop, the engagement ring, he sold to a woman for $20. I filed a police report with the Sheriff (who is a good friend), then I went to the pawn shop and found the items myself. I then called the sheriff, and they sent a deputy down and got the stuff, the guy at the pawn shop gave the police the tickets that he filled out for the stuff, and told the cops who brought it in, ( I knew the owner of the pawn shop). They then place a warrant for the arrest of the uncle for theft by deception over $300. The next Sunday, we got a call from the neighboring county sheriff's office, they have the engagement ring. Her uncle sold it to the sheriff's first cousin, who knew it had to be stolen for buying it for only $20, who then turned it in, and I got it back. Long story short, her uncle was arrested, my wife (then fiance) had to testify against him, then her mother then started pressuring her to drop the charges, so the charges got dropped, we got my ring and all the other stuff (except the promise ring), and I lost all respect for her mother and uncle. :nonono:

Good luck getting your stuff back. File a police report, get them to go with you to the pawn shop, get the stuff back, then press a shit load of charges against the a-hole.

 

[brnxman]

I know exactly what you're talking about. Back in 2001 I was building a 93 GT and had about $3500 worth of parts stolen out of my garage. Almost every part was bought off of ebay. It wasn't very long before I found out who did it (one of the perks of a small town). I went to the police (I filed a report when it happened) and told them where the parts were at. They did absolutely nothing. So, I took matters into my own hands. I knew this kid pretty well. I waited till he went to work and went and got my stuff back. Every last piece of it.
Guess what!!! I was arrested a few weeks later for it. We went to trial and obviously they couldn't get me for stealing the stuff because I had proof of buying it. But they did stick me with a burglery charge. Even a felony!!! I was like WTF???? They said I was guilty of "breaking and entering" even though his garage door wasn't locked. I'm still trying to get that off my record. It's costs me several thousands of dollars at work because I can't take assignments in Canada and such.
Buying the stuff back is about the safest way to do it. Even though it should be the last thing you have to do. Good Luck!

How did they Know it was you?

 

[CobraMarkVIII]

wow after reading all this... my suggestion is apartment insurance or some kind of insurance to guarantee the stolen property back. get an alarm security system for a discount and wah lah, u dont have to worry about this bs anymore

but when i get a more permanent address, instead of my yearly apartment hopping aka a house... its gona be a serious lockdown place... so tight burgulars will have earned the stolen goods and i meaned earned em.... not to mention security systems so hardcore.

 

[Mach1USMC]

wow after reading all this... my suggestion is apartment insurance or some kind of insurance to guarantee the stolen property back. get an alarm security system for a discount and wah lah, u dont have to worry about this bs anymore

but when i get a more permanent address, instead of my yearly apartment hopping aka a house... its gona be a serious lockdown place... so tight burgulars will have earned the stolen goods and i meaned earned em.... not to mention security systems so hardcore.

insurance is one thing and is actually a very good idea. But there isn't an alarm system on the planet that can't be defeated- they are more a deterant than anything else.

To the OP- sorry bout your friends luck. Hope the thief gets his. :bash: