I had a similar story 15 years ago in Long Beach California when I had my
storage unit broken into. A guy rented the unit next door and then broke a
hole in the adjoining wall and emptied out my unit (around 20 boxes of movie
paper).
I called the cops, and when the two detectives came, I knew I was in
trouble, because they were in their forties, overweight, and each one had a
cup of Duncan Donuts coffee in one hand and a box of donuts they were
scarfing down in the other (straight out of a bad movie)!
I knew they would likely never get anywhere, so I sent out letters to
everyone in the L.A. area who was on my mailing list, telling them to alert
me if any of my stuff showed up. A guy called a couple of days later and
said he had bought my stuff from a pawnshop for $5,000 and would sell it to
me for that amount.
I gave him the money and recovered 95% of my stuff, and called the cops to
tell them about the crooked pawnshop (which had bought stolen merchandise
and then not held it for 30 days as required by law). They told me that the
pawnshop helped them crack lots of burglaries, and that were not interested
in pursuing that owner. But they did find the name of the drug addict from
the pawnshop owner and they arrested him and he plea-bargained and he got 4
years.
I considered calling the L.A. Times to see if they were interested in the
story, but I was pretty sure it was "business as usual" all over L.A., and
that trying to make trouble for the cops could likely get me beaten or
killed, so I gave up on that idea.
That made me a giant believer in great security and expensive alarm systems!
Bruce
On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 9:30 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> hiya folks
>
> I have a very funny story for all of you today.
>
> You folks remember when my warehouse & office were burglarized in September
> don't you??
>
> Thieves (we're pretty sure we know who) broke in through the wall from a
> vacant unit next door, smashed through the office door & stole what was my
> then new camera, my laptop, some misc stuff and 2 boxes of comics & stuff
> that was on the front table
>
> all told, I filed a claim for my merch at $20,000+ to Collectibles
> Insurance Agency. My equipment was not covered
>
> Called the police and filed a report, the cops walked all around inside the
> building taking photos of busted doors & the hole in my wall etc. They even
> sent a fingerprint technician (I called her Marg Helgenberger) to look for
> prints etc. The day of the burglary, they spent 3 1/2 hours taking pics, my
> report & looking for prints etc.
>
> Then during the next two weeks, I compiled as close a list of missing stuff
> & filed it with the police and even had photos of about 100 items
>
> about a week after the theft I got a phone call from the detective working
> my case - Detective Madison who assured me they were on the case. He asked
> about what was stolen and I told him comics etc and said I called all the
> stores, let them know about the theft & emailed lists to them if possible. I
> explained that they would have to come up sooner or later & I would hope to
> retrieve them.
>
> Detective Madison said "well they're just comics. How would I know they
> were your comics unless you have the only copies of them?"
>
> I explained that if he saw my pictures he would understand. He said "well
> lets find them first I guess" and that was that.
>
> I filed my insurance claim which was paid this November and then I spotted
> a guy on ebay selling my books.
>
> I alerted Detective Madison to the ebay seller right away & again he gave
> me the "How would I know they were your comics" line. So I again explained,
> why don't you look at my pics and his and you will understand immediately.
> he gave me his email address, I sent him pics & links to the guy's auctions
> and within 5 minutes he called back, explained that they sure looked like my
> books and he shot off a request to ebay for info on the seller.
>
> It took 3 weeks for ebay to respond and Detective Madison called me to let
> me know the dealer would come in wityh the books & I should come pick them
> up later in the afternoon.. that was today.
>
> I get to the police station, and I go to his office and of the 400 books,
> he has 15 crappy issues worth $200 on the outside. Some of them were not
> even my text list, though I had pics of them - so I guess I didn't even make
> a full text list for the insurance company. Here is the following
> discussion:
>
> Richie: "Where's the rest of the books?"
> Detective Madison: "this is all he has left. he says he sold the rest"
> Richie: " but Detective Madison, the 7 golden age comics he had on ebay
> aren't here and they were listed until Friday"
> Detective Madison: "This is all he has left."
> Richie: "what about the rest?"
> Detective Madison: "I spoke to the property crimes department. Your
> insurance company called them. Did you file a claim?"
> Richie: "yes"
> Detective Madison: "did you get paid?"
> Richie: "yes I got replacement value"
> Detective Madison: "you know these people are innocent, they paid for them
> too"
> Richie: "where did they say they got them?"
> Detective Madison: "he says 2 old people walked in with them"
> Richie: "you know Detective Madison, they're selling you a crock"
> Detective Madison: "Mr Halegua, you sell your comic books, I'll do the
> police work"
>
> *$25,000 Reported Theft
> $200. Value Recovery
> NO Suspects Arrested
> Crime Solved
> Case Closed
>
> *so I took this little stack and went home, because clearly Mack Sennett
> had started filming movies again, right here in Las Vegas and I had gone to
> the film set & not a real police station.
>
> then when loading some stuff into my car at the house of a friend who is
> unfortunately on his deathbed, I didn't notice I had dropped my phone under
> the car until I started backing up & heard *C-R-U-N-C-H
>
> *so tell me folks.. what's going on in your day???
>
> *PS. I should mention that the comic store that had or still has my comics
> is Action Comics in Henderson Nevada
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *
> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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