Stolen GPS...think we found the thief
 

Two days ago I was at my high school ski practice when I came back to my car and discovered that the GPS was missing. It was clearly stolen along with my jeans. What really disturbs me is that I even hid it under the seat and the thief still managed to find it. It is a Garmin 255w so it is pretty expensive. We have reported it to ski area staff and checked craigslist every day. We had no luck until about an hour ago when I searched GPS on craigslist and found this ad.http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/da...572200560.html The thing is that the thief did not take the car mount but he did take the car charger which is in the pictures. He also obviously cut/paste the info and just wrote his phone number in. It is also located in the exact area in which it was stolen.

I don't know what to do because I can not prove that it is mine. Do you guys have any advise or ways I could prove its mine?

Here's a long shot, but did you plug in your home address under the HOME category.

You could tell mine to take you home and it would use that address to take you there.

Mine got stolen too. Thief broke my driver's side window out, right in my driveway to take it.

If I were you, I would take some buddies with me and "check" it out. You could call the guy and set up a "meeting".

Serial number on the box vs the thing itself?

Any distinctive marks or scratches etc?

Distinctive batteries?

I'd assume also it might have certain places pre-programmed into it that you can bring up on the menu etc?

I would go round there with a local police officer- he can ajudicate as you inspect the gps to see if its yours or not- if the theif can t prove ownership ( no box, mount, instructions, receipt etc ) but you can ( have all those things the theif doesnt ), then it should be easy to determine the true owner.

If, and this is a big if, the police actually wanted to spend any time on it, they could finger print it and your car. If they find your prints on the gps, then you might have a good chance.
The "home" thing might work too.

A buddy of mine programmed his "home" to the cop that lives around the corner from him. His theory was that they would then target his home (not sure why he arrived at that conclusion...). But it would have been funny if it had all worked out.

Mine got stolen too. did you file a police report? Hard to do a lot if you don't have one unless you have solid proof of ownership.

Please beat his ass either way for all those that don't catch our thief.

Did you register it with Garmin? They keep your name with the serial #.

Bingo
 

Thats what I was going to say. Anytime you purchase a piece of electronic gear you should register it right away. Especially if it was a big $$$$ item. Also that is why we keep the boxes for stuff like that, because they usually put the serial number of the item on the box just like software when you purchase it. I would do what someone else suggested. Setup a meeting to check the item out and show up with the police to varify if it is in fact your GPS.

That thing about putting a neighbors address in for the HOME location was suggested a while ago, because thieves began using the info on the stolen GPS units to rob houses. Think about it this way. Most people who have GPS units and leave them in their cars also usually have garage door openers in their vehicles. How easy is that for the thief? Not only does he get your GPS, but he also gets a free shopping spree in your house with easy access.

We are going to do a "meeting" today...we'l see how it goes

Sucks to hear.. And good luck getting your Garmin back. It really sucks that the police doesn't do anything. (It's the same over here)


Good luck with the "meeting", hope you get that Garmin back

Be careful. If it is the thief you can never know how they will react when confronted.

really hope you get your garmin back,theives are just disgusting.its times like these that remind me why im getting a concealed carry license,the best i can get now is some friends to go with me!--josh

Good Luck !!!!!!
Theiving douche bags should all be hung by their thumbs.

One thing I'll say about Saudi Arabai and other countrys that desipline with a machete to the wrists to scum bags that steal hard earned propertys.
I think public execusions would be a great idea too, I'd be in the front row with a big tub of popcorn watching the show.

:lol:


When was/is the meeting?

Why not a stoning and make it a family affair? lol

Stoning is too impersonal; I don't feel "attached" to the deed. I personally prefer direct fist/elbow/knee/foot to face contact. Much more gratifying!

St. Paul isn't that far, want the wheelchair mafia to back you up?

funny day funny day. It starts out when I file a police report like every good little boy should do. We met at 3:00 at a park near woodbury. We power it on, go to HOME and wala 3378 xxxxxxxx CT. hmmmmm that address seems very familiar....wait I think that that is my address. Even funnier thing is that the pics where taken from the back of our car....some criminal. So he hands back the GPS without pulling out a magnum or anything. He says the old "I'm sorry", "I just needed money" (couldn't we all) " I had nasty divorce ...blah blah blah. I informed the police and they gave him a little phone call. Well I didn't have to use wheelchair support. One thing I have to add. Busting someone is very,very enjoyable.

Glad the end result was you getting your GPS back, NOT doing anything pysical makes you a much better man then myself. He'd a got a solid face punching if it was me ?

I'm VERY glad to hear that you got it back! :yipi:

File Charges! Stop that guy for sure! Too many scum bags running around getting by with that junk if you ask me.

Ya right .:lol:

that's crazy. Good for you man, nice detective work. Goes to show how dumb criminals are. I'm definitely going to share this story.

sweet as!
finally some justice is served for so-called-by-the-police petty thing!
happy for ya!

Way to go.
 

Good for you man. Way to go. I am not sure of exactly what you would have done about this had you not requested advice here on RCM, but I think that we have a great bunch of people on here. Nice to see that we could do some good for someone in need after an unfortunate incident like this.

So are the police actually going to do anything about this guy? How old was he? I mean since you retrieved your GPS most Officers are happy to just let it drop. Still if this guy stole your stuff, then you can be sure that he is probably on a roll. It is like an adrenalin rush for some to do this sort of thing and some just cannot stop themselves after the first time unless they hit bottom by spending some time in jail, or at the very least stand before a Judge. Just wearing a pair of cuffs is quite embarrassing. Regardless of his sad story he made the concious decision to steal your stuff, and should face the conciquenses for his actions. Otherwise he will be right back out on the street doing it to some of your friends & neighbors trying to make up for this loss.

And I have to ask. Was your car locked or left open? We had one hell of a time convincing one of our sons about keeping his vehicle locked up. He had his GPS, Ipod, and hard drive stolen out of his truck last month. It is hard to get any sympathy out of a Cop when you leave things open for them to easily open and steal your stuff. Sure any thief can break a window, and get in if they really want to. The problem is when you make it TOO easy, even the good people will be tempted to relieve you of your personal property in desperate times. We all have a responsibility to keep our stuff locked up and make the effort to protect what belongs to us.

So was it left open? You never really told us that part.

the guy won't answer his phone:lol:

I left him a colorful message:na:

:rofl:

Funny
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: You crack me up Harold. Leave it to you on giving this scum bag a call to embarrass him. I can see you wheeling around in your chair with signs protesting his house kind of like the Scarlet letter "A". Is there a way for all of us to leave email or something for this guy? Maybe a little humiliation will break his bad habits, and keep him from doing this to someone else. Good work Harold.:yes:

don't be surprised when the guy says well I got one up for sale right now....probably stole another one.....


And yes, the trunk was left unlocked, but still he would have to climb through the gap, look under the seat, he must have seen us pull up to the parking lot or something.

hmmm the ad just got taken off, I wonder if harolds call could have had something to do with it...

ha! I thought about it, but hyper9e has the cops involved. We don't want the criminal to cry harassment or anything. Maybe I'll mail him one of my famous "cowpie surprise" packages!

Defending.
 

No body is defending what this guy does. He is a dirtbag plain and simple. My point is merely that we have to make every effort and take whatever steps we can to protect our valuables. For something like a GPS, which usually costs several hundred $$$ or digital cameras or any type of expensive electronic gear it should never be left in an unlocked situation(hidden or not). That is just asking for them to be stolen. Stealing is a thief's job, and his livelyhood in most cases. If we intend to hang on to our stuff, then we have to do whatever is needed to protect it. I never leave my GPS unlocked in the car. I even lock it up in the glove compartment and I never leave my car unlocked for any reason, no matter where I park it. If your glovebox is too small or does not lock, then I would lock it in the trunk or carry it with you. If we let our gaurd down, then we are going to be taken advantage of.

How many vehicles have you seen with the garage door opener on the visor or sitting out in the open in the center consul? That is like leaving your house keys in the lock so anyone can walk right into your home and do whatever they feel like doing. These type of people spend every waking hour trying to think up ways to out-smart the rest of us so they can take what we have worked so hard for. That is what they do.

I am not saying any of this to offend you. I am writing this to share information with everyone who reads this, so they can take steps to protect their own property.

:yes:Yep, no more leaving car/trunk unlocked. Learned my lesson. Just the nerve of some people to know that you EARNED something with your own hard earned money only for someone to simply take it and sell it on craiglist:whip: If I had a laptop or something he could have got a felony. I almost wish he had stolen something else so I could rub his jail time in his face.:diablo::whip::diablo:

So what did the cops do????? Nothing??

I haven't asked, I just informed them and they said they would "talk" to him. Hopefully he has to do some community service or something.

Nope
 

That can only happen if he goes before a Judge. Like I said they dropped it because you got your GPS back without a fight, and he did not damage your vehicle. He will be stealing again soon in a niegborhood near you.

Not to worry though. My best friend tells me that Obama is going to fix everything for us. Helath care is doomed, Guantinamo is still open, and we are not only still in Iraq, but also in Afganistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Kuati, Korea, Haiti and God knows where next. Oh but he says that we are all doing much better after the housing market crash. Cash is flowing again and jobs are on the rise.

:lol::lol: One man can't fix a million+ peoples bad decisions. Especially if they don't want to......some one some were in the government is making lots of money off of our problems. Just like war it's all about the money, not us.

In my opinion Obama can stuff his "change" up his a$$ (cause he sure as hell ain't work'in for us) Call me when dollar bills start rolling out of his mouth.

G/j getting it back, but the theif needs to pay for something. At least we can get his phone # added to a bunch of spam callers.

Have his addy? My brother used to prank his roommates in college by signing them up for free samples of all sorts of crap. Once on the list the never stop sending garbage.
The amount of free tampons, maxipads and douche bottles that guy got in the mail would make women jealous.

Best off he never knew why he kept getting them. :0

Truer words never spoken, but everyone seems to expect him to. Eventually we're gonna have to take a collective hard look in the mirror and stop blaming everyone else for the mess we all made.

One man and his idiot posse can actually make things worse however...

In my opinion Obama can stuff his "change" up his a$$ (cause he sure as hell ain't work'in for us) Call me when dollar bills start rolling out of his mouth.[/QUOTE]


+1 :lol: