Why criminals are stupid
mtcards
Posts: 3,340 ✭✭✭
Long story short.....I have a small display in my store with cards. Had a guy come in last week to sell cards and while I was looking at them, he or his sister who was there were scoping out the place. When I went to check online about one card, apparently he reached into one of the showcases, stealing 7 Jordan inserts worth about $100-$120. After they left, about 10 minutes later, I noticed the sliding door on the back was open and the cards missing....it was my fault since I had taken the locking bolt off earlier in the day and forgot to put it back. I chalked it up as "stupid tax" for not bolting it and set out on ebay to replace the stolen cards.
Flash forward to today...by now I had 4 of the 7 Jordans already bought on ebay and on the way. Another guy comes in and has some cards he wants to sell. It is the exact same Jordans stolen from me...one still had my price sticker on it in my handwriting. I asked the guy where he got them, he told me his brother gave them to him to sell since he needed the money. I then informed him of the problem. Gave him a couple of options, one of which was calling the police and letting them decide who owns the cards. I dont feel he knew anything about them being stolen, but you can never tell. But honestly, if you stole cards, would you give them to your brother to sell for money when there is only one card shop within 60 miles, so you have to know where he would be going to sell them and you have to know that they would know they were the same cards?
In the end, I offered him a "finders fee" of $20, so I wouldnt be up to my eyeballs in police reports and having to go through that nonsense and we would keep the law out of it as long as his brother did not return to the store, nor his girlfriend that was with him.
Just curious if anyone thinks I did the right thing or should I have been less forgiving and called the police to investigate and arrest the brother for shoplifting even at risk of not getting my cards?
Flash forward to today...by now I had 4 of the 7 Jordans already bought on ebay and on the way. Another guy comes in and has some cards he wants to sell. It is the exact same Jordans stolen from me...one still had my price sticker on it in my handwriting. I asked the guy where he got them, he told me his brother gave them to him to sell since he needed the money. I then informed him of the problem. Gave him a couple of options, one of which was calling the police and letting them decide who owns the cards. I dont feel he knew anything about them being stolen, but you can never tell. But honestly, if you stole cards, would you give them to your brother to sell for money when there is only one card shop within 60 miles, so you have to know where he would be going to sell them and you have to know that they would know they were the same cards?
In the end, I offered him a "finders fee" of $20, so I wouldnt be up to my eyeballs in police reports and having to go through that nonsense and we would keep the law out of it as long as his brother did not return to the store, nor his girlfriend that was with him.
Just curious if anyone thinks I did the right thing or should I have been less forgiving and called the police to investigate and arrest the brother for shoplifting even at risk of not getting my cards?
IT IS ALWAYS CHEAPER TO NOT SELL ON EBAY
0
Comments
<< <i>Just curious if anyone thinks I did the right thing or should I have been less forgiving and called the police to investigate and arrest the brother for shoplifting even at risk of not getting my cards? >>
Tough call, getting the police involved would have been a lot of hassle for that dollar value, but in the end you gave them $20 for stealing your cards, so I doubt any lessons were learned. That was pretty stupid of the thieves and the brother.
When you are soft on crime you give it more opportunity to be hard on you.
<< <i>Good deal. $20 is easily worth your time and avoiding the stress and hassle and I doubt you'll ever see any of those people again. >>
I grew up in family owned retail stores and agree with this. There's really nothing that can be done, even if the cops are called. If you had them on camera stealing the card, it can't be proven that those actual cards the brother was trying to sell were the ones stolen....even though you and everyone else knows they are.
I'd invest in a good camera to thwart thieves.
<< <i>Sorry this happened to you but I would have called the cops. Letting criminals get the easy way out, let alone rewarding them with money (a finders fee?!) sends the wrong message IMO.
When you are soft on crime you give it more opportunity to be hard on you. >>
This was the point I had to wrestle with. Technically, I had no way to "physically restrain" him, so if I went to call the cops, he could have taken the cards and left, never to return, plus I dont feel the person in the store was the person who originally stole the cards so I wasnt necessarily rewarding the actual thief. I am pretty sure if it was more than $100 in cards, I would have called the police originally. It was a tough call and I see and appreciate your opinion
A few years ago I had some other cards stolen by different means...offered a reward for them or the location of them leading to their return. someone squealed and I got the cards back, agreed with the thief (16 yrs old) to not press charges if they agreed to pay the reward. Kind of looked at it the same way here, but it is making me reconsider what kind of cards I have on display where it can be stolen in the first place. I had just bought a Lebron James Topps Chrome Rookie refractor worth several hundred, but chose not to put it into the case.
eBay Store
Greg Maddux #1 Master SetGreg Maddux #2 Basic Set
there is nothing worse than a thief. i understand that the paperwork and such is an absolute pain, but I think you let him off easy.
I would have taken possession of the cards and said:
sure. lemme just grab your name and info so I can make out the check. and please just wait a minute. woulda walked in the back, while someone was watching the store, called the police immediately and explained the situation. I have a feeling that he woulda either ran immediately. or b. you woulda had a great lead to prosecute the original thief.
paying someone $20 that is associated w/ the thief is not what I woulda done and quite possibly set yourself up for a return by his other associates.
again, I do understand that was the easiest thing to do, however I think retaining the cards and calling the police woulda simply ended up ironing out in your favor, especially if your handwriting was on the price tag.
if someone is that hard pressed and just simply asked me for the money, I woulda helped'em out 10 fold, but don't steal from me! and don't dare, come back in and ask me to buy my own sh!t back!
my 2cents.
<< <i>Moral absolutism vs. pragmatics ... classic. >>
everyday, when dealing with thieves.
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
There is no right or wrong thing to do in this situation, if you are happy with your decision & I think you are, than I think you did the right thing for you which is all that matters.
Personally, when you have somebody arrested, unless they plea out, your going to have to go to court. Plus the cards will go as evidence. So now you have to hope you win the case, get your cards back without more damage, spend the time going to court & also hoping they are not complete lunatics looking for revenge in the future. All this for $100 in cards, doesn't make much sense to me. I certainly understand that you don't want to send a wrong message to crooks making you a target, but you have to weigh the two.
In a similar situation, I took the cards & told the guy he can either leave quietly or I can call the police. They will most likely leave quietly. The problem with this option is if they don't leave quietly.
As I said before, this reminds me of so many things that happened in our stores, but I would like to relay one of the stories, kind of tells you what kind of shop owner I was:
Our wax packs were in their boxes on shelves behind the counter so that customers could not only not steal them, but not search them either. We had 16 6ft & 4ft display counters so we had to make the distance from the wall to the counters change in different parts of the store, you kind of had to be there to really understand but I thought all the wax was unreachable. There was this one kid that was super tall that came into the store & the other kids told me he could reach this one box & had been stealing packs out. I picked up a mousetrap & bent it up so that it didn't have it's full force and put it in that box, took out the packs. The next time he came in I made sure to turn my back on him giving him plenty of opportunity & BAM! He yelled, me & my staff laughed. I also told him he was not allowed into the store again.
<< <i>As a past card store owner, I can not tell you how many experiences this story reminds me of. With a background in Casino management, when I opened my stores, I was very security conscious, but that didn't stop the thieves from trying.
There is no right or wrong thing to do in this situation, if you are happy with your decision & I think you are, than I think you did the right thing for you which is all that matters.
Personally, when you have somebody arrested, unless they plea out, your going to have to go to court. Plus the cards will go as evidence. So now you have to hope you win the case, get your cards back without more damage, spend the time going to court & also hoping they are not complete lunatics looking for revenge in the future. All this for $100 in cards, doesn't make much sense to me. I certainly understand that you don't want to send a wrong message to crooks making you a target, but you have to weigh the two.
In a similar situation, I took the cards & told the guy he can either leave quietly or I can call the police. They will most likely leave quietly. The problem with this option is if they don't leave quietly.
As I said before, this reminds me of so many things that happened in our stores, but I would like to relay one of the stories, kind of tells you what kind of shop owner I was:
Our wax packs were in their boxes on shelves behind the counter so that customers could not only not steal them, but not search them either. We had 16 6ft & 4ft display counters so we had to make the distance from the wall to the counters change in different parts of the store, you kind of had to be there to really understand but I thought all the wax was unreachable. There was this one kid that was super tall that came into the store & the other kids told me he could reach this one box & had been stealing packs out. I picked up a mousetrap & bent it up so that it didn't have it's full force and put it in that box, took out the packs. The next time he came in I made sure to turn my back on him giving him plenty of opportunity & BAM! He yelled, me & my staff laughed. I also told him he was not allowed into the store again. >>
That is an awesome story, LOL!!!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.