Heads up on stolen books

[cheetah]

Thanks for the kind word, guys. It's been an odd week to say the least. I've still got to finish my inventory to make sure everything is there.

[John R]

So glad to hear you got your books back!

[Psithyrus]

Thanks for the kind word, guys. It's been an odd week to say the least. I've still got to finish my inventory to make sure everything is there.

 

It should be motivation for people hesitating on their inventory, to complete it.

[jmg3637]

Glad to hear that you got your books back.

 

I was looking at the recovered books and thinking about how the Meth Head pulled this off.

 

22 boxes of Slabs is quite a haul. Unless he had help, or some kind of dolly he would have had to lug the boxes 1 at a time from the distant shed to the parking. Could easily have taken HOURS to load up

 

He would have had to have had a large vehicle, or made at least two trips.

 

Seems to takes planning and cahonnes to have pulled this heist off.

 

And then to basically sell them for about $100 per box

 

Far beyond the ability of a lone meth head. to plan, and not consistent with the sale price.

 

 

[porcupine48]

Always put a chain saw next to your comics folks

 

That is a custom title for Cheetah if I ever heard one.

If not cheetah,awesomest guy about,(he did a really nice thing for me,Kay?) then Kav.(Another real nice fellow)

Jimmers,back to being normal and positive and apologies for my crustyness of late.

Love you all.

[porcupine48]

Always put a chain saw next to your comics folks

 

That is a custom title for Cheetah if I ever heard one.

 

+1 for that. Or for Kav, if Cheetah passes.

 

In 8 years on these boards, no one has ever mentioned a custom title for me. I'm touched.

A small kindness to a porcupine lasts forever.(my 2¢ )

Even if you forgot what it was,I never will.

[gcstomp]

The logistics of meth dude taking off with 22 boxes of books is not nearly as big a physical project as you make it sound. I suspect Cheetah has a hand truck somewhere on premises, either right in the man cave barn, or in garage. Even if crazypants didnt have access to a dolly or wheelbarrow or whatever on wheels no way would it take "hours" to load a vehicle.

[cheetah]

Glad to hear that you got your books back.

 

I was looking at the recovered books and thinking about how the Meth Head pulled this off.

 

22 boxes of Slabs is quite a haul. Unless he had help, or some kind of dolly he would have had to lug the boxes 1 at a time from the distant shed to the parking. Could easily have taken HOURS to load up

 

He would have had to have had a large vehicle, or made at least two trips.

 

Seems to takes planning and cahonnes to have pulled this heist off.

 

And then to basically sell them for about $100 per box

 

Far beyond the ability of a lone meth head. to plan, and not consistent with the sale price.

 

 

Three trips and he stole my hand truck.

[jimjum12]

Glad to hear that you got your books back.

 

I was looking at the recovered books and thinking about how the Meth Head pulled this off.

 

22 boxes of Slabs is quite a haul. Unless he had help, or some kind of dolly he would have had to lug the boxes 1 at a time from the distant shed to the parking. Could easily have taken HOURS to load up

 

He would have had to have had a large vehicle, or made at least two trips.

 

Seems to takes planning and cahonnes to have pulled this heist off.

 

And then to basically sell them for about $100 per box

 

Far beyond the ability of a lone meth head. to plan, and not consistent with the sale price.

 

 

Three trips and he stole my hand truck.

 

 

..... plus, he was likely on Meth..... which is basically "Blitzkrieg Powder"...... he was likely zipping around like those folks in the movie "Spun". Glad you got 'em back.... but I had a feeling you would. The buyer had to know they were hot at that price..... Mile High slabs ? 3 bucks a pop ? ...from the rightful owner ?........ yeah, right..... and then he put them on eBay. A true comedy of errors, except it ain't funny. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Hado]

Thank God your Spider-Woman books are here safe with me.....

 

Wait, I could have got them for $3 each

[Dark Knight]

Glad you were able to recover all your books and with no damages applied to the slabs Hope Mr. Meth gets what he deserves soon

[the authority]

I'm extremely happy you got your books. A similar thing happened to my brother's collection 30+ years ago. The only reason I was able to get his books back was because the 6 year old kid who lived next door to us gave a description of the person who climbed through a window in our house and the vehicle he came up in. This insufficiently_thoughtful_person took boxes and came back for more.

 

The collection was all silver and bronze and nowhere near the value of yours but to my bro, it was a lifetime of collecting. I was able to get most of them back and though the kid who did it only got a slap on the wrist at the time, he went to prison about 8 or 9 years later. Life seems to work itself out.

 

Congrats man

[porcupine48]

Now...what about the guy that bought them for three bux each and put em on eBay ?

[porcupine48]

I mean,i know you have no issues with him,but will the authorities go after them?

[jaeldubyoo]

Exactly. The guy who bought them is not without fault. He was being dishonest knowing that the books were stolen and then trying to sell some. You ought to out him to show him for what he is.

[01TheDude]

Putting them up on eBay was not completely terrible-- he made it easier to find the stolen property. I would be thankful that someone who knew what he was doing (handling the books) was the one who got possession. Clearly not everyone in the collecting field frequents this site (or reads it all the time) or the guy would have known what was up from your early posts.

 

He shelled out some dough to get a hold of them-- albeit no where near their value. That was almost a service he provided. He did try reaching out via Heritage as well. Add in the factor of how quickly all this was resolved even with the police sort of dragging their feet. So anyone who wants to beat their chest about this guy is really pushing the limits of being reasonable imo.

 

One thing I don't quite understand is why people cannot simply check on CGC who the person was who submitted a slabbed book. Heritage is one outlet --- sure enough -- but it seems like CGC would be the most direct route.

[TheLiamSturgess]

Because that is too much of a breach of privacy. I don't want people to be able to find out what I submitted on their own terms through an official service :shrug:

[porcupine48]

I think the guy saved Cheetah a lot of pain and heartache myself,as he stated,Cheetah wants to try and make the buyer whole for what he is out.I was just wondering if he is going to get in any legal trouble.

There are plenty times when one person does not wish to press charges but the police go ahead and do it themselves....here at least.

[Sqeggs]

Exactly. The guy who bought them is not without fault. He was being dishonest knowing that the books were stolen and then trying to sell some. You ought to out him to show him for what he is.

 

It would be interesting to know his thinking. Looks like he followed up with HA in an attempt to locate the owner of the books. But then listing the books on eBay is puzzling.

[Bookery]

I can tell you from direct experience that in Ohio, the buyer of stolen merchandise is not out the money if he acted in good faith and it cannot be shown that he knowingly bought stolen goods. This actually makes sense, since there are 2 victims in this crime. The buyer, however, cannot file an insurance claim like the original owner can, if the books aren't in turn stolen from him but merely returned to the owner. It would be customary to return the books at cost, however, and the original victim can then seek restitution from his insurance company. In my case, I paid the victim for his books anyway because I felt it was the right thing to do (despite him being a jerk about it)... but it was my choice, not a legal demand. The original owner could also seek a Civil suit against the buyer, and a jury would decide however a jury would decide.

 

In this case, it might be a bit dicey for the buyer, since it would seem to be a very suspicious collection indeed. On the other hand, even meth-heads can have fathers who pass away and leave stuff to their kin, which is likely the story he told. You can doubt it, but you can't really know it isn't true.

 

Here are the ways I've handled these situations in the past...

 

(A) In this case, I would have recognized the stolen items since I've been following this thread, and would have had them all unloaded into my shop, then refused to return them, saying truthfully, that there is a stolen books report on these books and until the police sort it out I can't release them back. I've done this in the past. I never accuse the seller, however, and pretend I believe he might also be a victim by some other party-- but that the police still need to sort it out. He leaves, and my staff records the license plate, and turn over our security cam videos to the police.

 

(B) I am unaware of any report out about the books... in this case if they are asking a lot I'll just have to turn them down and still get their license plate when they leave. I'll keep that and the video handy if something about the collection turns up later. If they are cheap, like this, it might be best just to buy them to secure their safety. I would then spend the next month trying to locate info about them before ever considering selling them (have done this before).

 

© The crooks are really slick... their story adds up... they know something about the books... they have ID and talk like they really own them, etc., etc. I pay a high value for the books, and things would later get really messy. This also has happened, when the owner was unaware the books were stolen until weeks after the fact, and I no longer had books to return. This is why it's very important for collectors to be aware at all times that their collection is safe. Don't put it in a storage locker and only check on it 2 or 3 times a year!

 

And yes... if your books are stolen, you will have to do all of the legwork yourself. It doesn't matter if you can show the books are worth $1000 or $100,000... even in this day and age the police consider them "just comic books", and are probably assuming the high value you ascribe to them is just some insurance scam attempt. They will not put any real effort into recovering them.

 

Good job Cheetah! And congrats on the happy ending!