We put Grandma in Jail

danglen

I promised I would make an effort to add some content to this great dark forum from time to time, so here goes. Just got back from the Whitman Show in Philadelphia. The most exciting thing that happened was we caught a little old lady stealing coins from our table and she wound up going to jail . We normally have a couple of tubs of modern lightside slabs on our table and on Saturday, we had a little old lady that was spending an inordinate amount of time going through them. She was very well dressed, with a nice jacket and a $5 Liberty Gold piece hanging from a chain around her neck. Certainly appeared to be the kind of customer you want at your bourse table. I turned my back to her to say something to Doug Bird, who was sharing a booth with us, when all of a sudden he says, "that lady just took a handful of your slabs, dropped them in her purse and is walking away." Needless to say, I quickly followed her and as I passed Larry Emard's booth, asked him to call Security. I followed her to another dealers table where she started going through his boxes of coins. I waited for about ten minutes (where's a cop when you need one?) and saw Richard Quitmeyer coming down the aisle. I asked him to call Security and he took off at a run. Just a couple of minutes later, I was surrounded by the head of Security as well as a couple of Philadelphia's finest who asked me what was happening. I explained the situation and they wasted no time in taking the woman into custody and escorting her to the back of the bourse floor. Behind a curtain, they asked her to empty her purse and lo-and-behold, there were my slabs, all $225 worth, as well as a bunch of other coins I am assuming she had stolen from other dealers. They slapped the handcuffs on her and paraded her out through the hall to a waiting squad car. I also got to ride in the same squad car down to Central Booking where she was taken to a cell downstairs and I got to make my statement to a detective. The detective told me that these people will only steal coins from out-of-state dealers because they figure they won't come back to press charges. I can tell you she certainly got that one wrong! While I was riding back to the show with the police officers who had taken us over to Central Booking, they were able to share the fact that this sweet little old lady had a rap-sheet dating back to 1969! Anyway, it was one for the good guys

FilthyBroke

I'm glad to see that you're willing to pursue this. Maybe it'll help to deter future crimes of this nature.

wybrit

Glad to see a good ending to a theft story! D'you think her jail time will be a life sentence?

worldcoinguy

Sad indeed. Congrats to Doug Bird for having a sharp eye, and congrats to you for the follow through.

WillieBoyd2

Are we going to see a mug shot posted here?

coinpictures

<< <i>Are we going to see a mug shot posted here? >>

Aethelred

Things are pretty bad when you can't even trust little old ladies anymore! You did the right thing by having her locked-up Dan, good job!

WillieBoyd2

Looks like a $5 gold piece.

Or can we dispense with the political stuff?

BillyKingsley

Good for you Dan. I have to wonder if the gold piece on her chain was lifted from somewhere too.

I've read that sometime people can afford to buy things but steal for the fun of it. Doesn't seem like the prospects of jail are fun to me!

EDIT: By the way, that has to be the best thread title ever

wybrit

that has to be the best thread title ever

canadacolornut

Grandmas in The South aren't always those nice little grannies you see puttering around the produce, squeezing avocados and such.

Mine told a State Trooper who stopped her to " Kiss my ass" with a Marlboro dangling out of her mouth

DBSTrader2

And all this time I thought Grandma was comfortably back at the nursing home!!

Thanks for alerting me to her whereabouts!!

What's her bail?

WillieBoyd2

Was "Grandma" alone or with a group of thieves?

SaorAlba

Good thing granny wasn't stuffing her girdle with your coins

ColinCMR

wow!

Hussulo

We'll done with catching her but it is a sad to see things like this happening.

I know there are a lot of nice people out there but you see some of the youngsters nowadays and you wonder what they are going to be like when they are older and if they have any what there kids will act like.

I also heard a story once of a mother pushing a pram around an antiques fair and stealing things off the table and hiding it in the pram. Not a lot surprises me these days.

ajaan

You could hide a lot of coins in a stroller.

ormandh

There is nothing more, in life, that I hate more than a thief! It is always the case that the person stealing from you is someone you know, love and trust, or someone who you should be able to count on to be honest. In all honesty, you really cannot put any one type of person in a category. You gotta be proactive in cases such as this one. Why would you not have your inventory in a case? You are just asking to get picked off in a situation such as a busy bourse floor. You have to protect your investments! It is one thing to have junk coins readily available to search through, but graded coins?!! In a basket much less?!! You are just asking for some unscrupulous person to thieve. I am sorry it happened, and you were lucky that someone saw it happen. JMHO. -Dan

SaorAlba

I saw something kind of cool in a 7-11 convenience store this morning, apparently some thieves came in and ripped off some snacks and beer, but they were caught on security camera - so the owner blew up the image of them and put it behind the cash register on the wall so all can see them. BTW he said they were arrested shortly afterwards, word got out about the photograph and someone snitched on them.

danglen

"Why would you not have your inventory in a case? You are just asking to get picked off in a situation such as a busy bourse floor. You have to protect your investments! It is one thing to have junk coins readily available to search through, but graded coins?!! In a basket much less?!! You are just asking for some unscrupulous person to thieve. I am sorry it happened, and you were lucky that someone saw it happen."

We normally have 400 to 500 modern coins in slabs and just don't have the space to put them in a case. It's just a small part of what we take to shows so we know there will always be some "shrinkage." Amazingly, in 30+ shows we did last year, we were only ripped off once (that we know of) Kind of a "cost of doing business."

Walmann

This could explain why TSA seems to target Grandma's for the more extensive carry on search.

SaorAlba

<< <i>This could explain why TSA seems to target Grandma's for the more extensive carry on search. >>



There must be some band of old lady smugglers or something supplementing their retirement income - because I have noticed the same thing coming through immigration and customs in the USA - the little old ladies get singled out for thorough searches.

ormandh

<< <i>"Why would you not have your inventory in a case? You are just asking to get picked off in a situation such as a busy bourse floor. You have to protect your investments! It is one thing to have junk coins readily available to search through, but graded coins?!! In a basket much less?!! You are just asking for some unscrupulous person to thieve. I am sorry it happened, and you were lucky that someone saw it happen."

We normally have 400 to 500 modern coins in slabs and just don't have the space to put them in a case. It's just a small part of what we take to shows so we know there will always be some "shrinkage." Amazingly, in 30+ shows we did last year, we were only ripped off once (that we know of) Kind of a "cost of doing business." >>



Well, at least you know. I know, all to well, the case of the "cost of doing business." I am glad that you were able to capture Mrs. Stickey Fingers; I really hate thieves!

-Dan

GRANDAM

OOOPS!!!! I misread the title and thought I needed to get a lawyer

GrandAm