Oscar, Oscar, Oscar...
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Halegua Comic Art
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 7:30 PM
Subject: [MOPO] OT: Keystone Kops, alive & well in Las Vegas
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
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