Three Stolen Books--Please read 6 6

[Junkdrawer]

The 10% I give up to Clink is even more worthwhile once you factor life into it.

[Semicentennial]

8 hours ago, SOLAR BOY said:

What are you talking about here? Ive met and sold with 50-60k worth of books.  It was a public place in front of what I thought was cameras that would see everything.  I didnt meet them in a back ally.  That was a collection that I had bought and flipped 50k of it already.  These were the left overs. 

That must have been a pretty impressive collection if half a short box was worth about $27K and were "left overs".  

[Hudson]

I don't think we should be "blaming the victim" here.

Hopefully no one would go up to a victim of sexual assault and say, "You shouldn't have been dressed like that" or "You shouldn't have been walking in that area".

Hope you get your books back, Solar.

[Junkdrawer]

51 minutes ago, Hudson said:

I don't think we should be "blaming the victim" here.

Hopefully no one would go up to a victim of sexual assault and say, "You shouldn't have been dressed like that" or "You shouldn't have been walking in that area".

Hope you get your books back, Solar.

No comparison. This is a business man with options. Could have gone many ways to off his wares. He could have sold his books here on the boards, heck he's a member here. He could have consigned his books to clink, cc, pedigree or heritage. How about eBay? Of course there are those fees, yes the cost of doing business. Setting up at a show, owning a shop, both have expenses that most don't care to associate with. So there is Craigslist, cash deals and no fees. One can keep the whole enchilada. This business man chose this outlet and has utilized it over and over. Getting robbed was the cost of doing business on Craigslist. He lost 30k in books. I've lost way over that in commissions to Clink alone. What's a rape victim got to do with it? What option should she have chosen? Was it a cost of being at the wrong place at the wrong time? I don't think the same compassion implies. Now ,one victim can consign books to an auction house or eBay, but what can the rape victim do to assure it'll never happen. You're less likely to get hit by a car if you stay outta the street. It's a very sad and cruel situation that no doubt leaves a scar. A harsh lesson learned. An eye opener to all of us as we go through life. It's a not_in_tune_with_social_norms crazy world because of the people that live in it. There's always gonna be people out there tryin to take what's yours. There will always be an expense when selling stuff. Be safe. Everyone.

[lizards2]

I don't think anyone is blaming the victim, some of us are just aghast at some of the details. 

To many of us, 30K is a lot of money, and we'd be very cautious. 

To others, maybe not so much.

[comix4fun]

18 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Well, let's get this community on the case or at least on the lookout.

Can you post a more specific list of the books in the shortboxes? Maybe start with the ones be picked out?

What was the description you gave the police of the van and the thieves? What was the make and approximate age of the van? Plate number?

On the thieves can you breakdown approximate height, weight, age, hair color and length, clothing, distinguishing marks or scars, any odd accent, vocal tick or trait that you noticed? 

Can you describe the gun or guns they were holding? Were they held in their left hand or their right? 

You recognized one of the armed men from before, so we should start with him since you had such close contact with him, saw him twice, and knew it was the same person.

 

18 hours ago, SOLAR BOY said:

Wow youre awesome....do you work for the FBI?  great questions.  Im at work answer quickly here but later Ill answer yours in detail.  Thank you

Didn't want this list of questions to get lost so I am bumping them. 

Right now there are three armed assailants with $30k of your good trying to turn them into cash, or worse setting up some other seller for the same treatment. 

The description of the three of them, especially the one you ran into twice, and the books in question are important to get out there as fast as possible. 

 

[justafan]

22 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

 

Didn't want this list of questions to get lost so I am bumping them. 

Right now there are three armed assailants with $30k of your good trying to turn them into cash, or worse setting up some other seller for the same treatment. 

The description of the three of them, especially the one you ran into twice, and the books in question are important to get out there as fast as possible. 

 

Agreed.  Get photos and a list of the books with any potentially unique or identifying defects on them out to the community.  Post on here, that stolen comics site, other comic forums, and to all the neighboring outlets and venues they could sell including pawn shops.  You need to make it as hard as possible for them to sell these books and make it as expensive as possible for them. 

Also provide a description of the individuals and any identifying mannerisms, features, or characteristics that might help others identify or at least avoid contact with them.

Might also be good to make CGC and the other grading companies aware of the books in case they go the graded route as a means of "laundering" them.

I hope you get these books back.

[SOLAR BOY]

4 hours ago, Fiddy said:

That must have been a pretty impressive collection if half a short box was worth about $27K and were "left overs".  

No one said it was half a short box.  I had 2 short boxes and the three books pictured stolen.  Not sure where you got half a short box from.  I even listed all the titles.....8-9 titles with a good 20-30 books min per title

[SOLAR BOY]

4 hours ago, Hudson said:

I don't think we should be "blaming the victim" here.

Hopefully no one would go up to a victim of sexual assault and say, "You shouldn't have been dressed like that" or "You shouldn't have been walking in that area".

Hope you get your books back, Solar.

Thanks brother i appreciate it.  To be honest i don't think there is a 1% chance I get them.  And I hate to say this buy there are lots of people, collectors we know that even with seeing this post will keep my books and not say anything.  Its fine, I just want my friends on here to stay safe.  This hobby has changed and its not what it use to be.

[SOLAR BOY]

3 hours ago, Junkdrawer said:

No comparison. This is a business man with options. Could have gone many ways to off his wares. He could have sold his books here on the boards, heck he's a member here. He could have consigned his books to clink, cc, pedigree or heritage. How about eBay? Of course there are those fees, yes the cost of doing business. Setting up at a show, owning a shop, both have expenses that most don't care to associate with. So there is Craigslist, cash deals and no fees. One can keep the whole enchilada. This business man chose this outlet and has utilized it over and over. Getting robbed was the cost of doing business on Craigslist. He lost 30k in books. I've lost way over that in commissions to Clink alone. What's a rape victim got to do with it? What option should she have chosen? Was it a cost of being at the wrong place at the wrong time? I don't think the same compassion implies. Now ,one victim can consign books to an auction house or eBay, but what can the rape victim do to assure it'll never happen. You're less likely to get hit by a car if you stay outta the street. It's a very sad and cruel situation that no doubt leaves a scar. A harsh lesson learned. An eye opener to all of us as we go through life. It's a not_in_tune_with_social_norms crazy world because of the people that live in it. There's always gonna be people out there tryin to take what's yours. There will always be an expense when selling stuff. Be safe. Everyone.

I learned my lesson.  I am strapped now every time I meet someone and make a deal.  I get your point here.  My choice, my decision.  Im not here to get Sympathy, I could care less.  Im here so you are all aware.  Thats the reason for my post.   But its funny to see some peoples reactions basically saying its my fault.

[SOLAR BOY]

2 hours ago, comix4fun said:

 

Didn't want this list of questions to get lost so I am bumping them. 

Right now there are three armed assailants with $30k of your good trying to turn them into cash, or worse setting up some other seller for the same treatment. 

The description of the three of them, especially the one you ran into twice, and the books in question are important to get out there as fast as possible. 

 

The kid they used as a decoy was a mixed kid maybe 16 years old.  Slim built maybe 5 foot 9  He was holding the three books that were CGC graded and was closest to me.  The other two were mexican gangster types.  The one i met twice was like 5 foot 10 dark hair a little chubby and his buddy who had a hoody on I could not see.  They had a 1980s style beat up old white van.  I didn't get the plate # this happened way too fast.

 

The two short boxes were as follows.  One was all marvel, one was all DC.  The marvel has ASM 9-24 straight all mid to high grade, then a bunch from 25-100 randomly in mid grade.  There were a bunch of avengers from 5-30.  Some Daredevil, some Tales to astonish and tales of suspense.  Some Fantastic fours but no keys.  And a bunch of hulks in there as well.  I want to say 104-200 but again no keys except first Samson.

The DC box were a lot of Superboy, superman, Action, Adventure, Detective, Batman, Showcase, brave and the bold, mystery in space, strange adventures.  The second supergirl was in there, some other minor keys but nothing crazy.

Lets make something clear.  I work full time, Im not a dealer.  I buy and sell collections to make extra cash on the side and this started as an 8 long box collection that I picked up for an incredible price.  The 8 long boxes had every big key in the silver age era except ASM, hulk, ff #1 and AF #15.  Every other key was basically there.  I sold them all and this was kid of the left over stuff i was having a hard time selling.  So im not that upset about it.  Just don't like being told on here that this is my fault.  Im trying to spread the word so people protect yourself and be smarter than me when dealing with CL people.  And there are a lot of you on CL, I have met some of you on CL and i see some of you posting on CL.  Lets stop the BS seriously.

[comicwiz]

1 hour ago, SOLAR BOY said:

I learned my lesson.  I am strapped now every time I meet someone and make a deal.  I get your point here.  My choice, my decision.  Im not here to get Sympathy, I could care less.  Im here so you are all aware.  Thats the reason for my post.   But its funny to see some peoples reactions basically saying its my fault.

It's not your fault. I will admit that I've lost out on really good collections due to the risk of carrying a large amount of money with me in the past. No one wants cheques, and lets face it, anyone who's bought/sold stuff before knows cash not only talks, but closes the deal. I once left a down payment with someone, returned an hour later and the lady sold the collection to someone else at a garage sale. It wasn't even a case that the person paid more (he matched what I paid) and she just took the full amount because she just didn't want to wait an hour for me to return with the rest.

If this happens to you or you've experienced a deal slipping through your fingers even once, it becomes an instant crash course on never leaving a place until a deal is done, and money is exchanged for goods. I will not say how much I've carried around because many here will think I'm even more crazy, but I'm also not a flashy individual, I'm street smart (grew up in some of the roughest neighbourhoods as a kid) and have a good instinct and nose for things seeming even slightly off. I'm not going to deny that I've looked way more into a situation than needed to protect myself, but it's a response mechanism that has served me well for too long to second guess it.

I went to look back at an old thread on this discussion, and I went to read it, and my views remain pretty much the same. That said, I'd probably use some of the tips shared in this thread, just to keep people, situations and deals as honest as possible.

Edited September 7, 2017 by comicwiz

[comicwiz]

Just saw this - two men, in their 20's, both Hispanic, carrying guns, used a different truck, but it looks like they ditched it right after. Google maps shows Hacienda Heights is 17 min from El Monte. Happened a month ago, wonder if it's the same two guys.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20170806/man-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-hacienda-heights

Edited September 7, 2017 by comicwiz

[comicwiz]

Here's an incident from Pasadena (half hour from El Monte), there's more details on the robbers - again two guys in their 20's, and this happened 10 days after the Hacienda Heights incident:

http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/2017/08/16/sought-pasadena-gas-station-robbery/

Edited September 7, 2017 by comicwiz

[IntoAnother]

1 hour ago, SOLAR BOY said:

I learned my lesson.  I am strapped now every time I meet someone and make a deal.  I get your point here.  My choice, my decision.  Im not here to get Sympathy, I could care less.  Im here so you are all aware.  Thats the reason for my post.   But its funny to see some peoples reactions basically saying its my fault.

If you think the lesson learned was to start carrying a gun to buy and sell comic books you are once again doing nothing more than gambling with your life to save a few bucks on fees. 

Next time you most likely won't be so lucky to just walk away, and chances are they have it in them to pull the trigger first. 

All to save a few bucks? 

[Junkdrawer]

1 hour ago, SOLAR BOY said:

I learned my lesson.  I am strapped now every time I meet someone and make a deal.  I get your point here.  My choice, my decision.  Im not here to get Sympathy, I could care less.  Im here so you are all aware.  Thats the reason for my post.   But its funny to see some peoples reactions basically saying its my fault.

It's very clear that you made a mistake. However how would you know it up until the time it happened? You stated that you have been using Craigslist prior and this wasn't your first time. Aside from multiple historic murders, assaults and other violent crimes that have transpired and have given Craigslist their "reputation", you elect to meet teens in LA with "30k worth" of assets. I'm almost positive that if you came here and asked for advice, you would have gotten a boat load. And perhaps some horror stories too. People get burned on eBay (myself included) but we continue to sell on eBay. I think we are all adults and understand that you can never be too diligent especially when dealing in high dollar transactions. It's not a fault that you are dealing with here. Nobody's faulting you. You made money utilizing CL and this deal was the fees. So to say. That's how I look at it. You enabled it to happen. You can continue to deal on Craigslist for the remaining days of your life and never have a similar experience. Again it's unfortunate for you, not your fault, however you were wise to meet at a public place and this is because you were wise and wanted better odds for a safe transaction. The bad guys are always coming up with new ways to separate you from your stuff. Meeting at a public location used to be suffice, but it's obviously not enough anymore as desperate times call for desperate measures. These guys that rolled you likely have a track record of crimes of this fashion. People who buy and sell gold are usually packing heat. Comic book guys, not likely. This is what they were thinking and planning. They were right. When they finally get into a gun blaze with a comic book guy, well they may start casing Pokémon collections or Star Wars knowing the marks are not prepared. Go through the motions and hopefully something good besides a life lesson transpires. Some of the advice here is good towards getting your stuff back. Criminals are dumb and someone/store owner will likely fall for the story that these books belonged to my dad and he died and I want to sell them. They'll likely have a totally different person do the selling. Check comic shops with no cameras. 

[revat]

Just now, IntoAnother said:

If you think the lesson learned was to start carrying a gun to buy and sell comic books you are once again doing nothing more than gambling with your life to save a few bucks on fees. 

Next time you most likely won't be so lucky to just walk away, and chances are they have it in them to pull the trigger first. 

All to save a few bucks? 

There's some conflicting philosophies on this for sure.  I'm with you, but I can easily see the other side too.  I think chance they are deterred is far greater than the chance they pull the trigger.  But the sheer number of types of potential unwanted results goes up too.  Now there's a chance you get shot, shoot a bad guy, shoot a good guy (or cause other property damage), get your gun stolen, get robbed anyways, get cited for discharging or carrying (depending on your licensing and your jurisdiction), or simply get robbed.  So the outcomes are more extreme, but the overall chance of a negative outcome is somewhat decreased.  So its really a little big subjective to each individual how he weighs the expected results, both negative and positive.

[kav]

maybe scout a location that has good camera coverage even if its indoors.  Hotel lobby maybe.  

[comix4fun]

2 hours ago, SOLAR BOY said:

The kid they used as a decoy was a mixed kid maybe 16 years old.  Slim built maybe 5 foot 9  He was holding the three books that were CGC graded and was closest to me.  The other two were mexican gangster types.  The one i met twice was like 5 foot 10 dark hair a little chubby and his buddy who had a hoody on I could not see.  They had a 1980s style beat up old white van.  I didn't get the plate # this happened way too fast.

 

The two short boxes were as follows.  One was all marvel, one was all DC.  The marvel has ASM 9-24 straight all mid to high grade, then a bunch from 25-100 randomly in mid grade.  There were a bunch of avengers from 5-30.  Some Daredevil, some Tales to astonish and tales of suspense.  Some Fantastic fours but no keys.  And a bunch of hulks in there as well.  I want to say 104-200 but again no keys except first Samson.

 

How much of this description did you give to the Cops? It sounds like there's more than one robbery in the area like this. 

[SOLAR BOY]

Guys I'm grown man. I wasn't posting on here for a debate and advise from people like I'm some child. And those of you blaming me need to go post somewhere else. I posted for one reason, to let everyone know and help those who I see all the time posting on CL protect themselves. There is a lot of buying an selling on CL buy more than 50% of the members on CL. I have met a lot of you in person and met you from a CL add. See some impressive collections when I was buying and could have been the crazy robber with the gun. I've also met so many of the dealers at the cons off CL. So please realize that and know what you all are saying. Anyway, I posted for a reason. I don't care about the books I'm trying to look out for my friends and some of you strangers as well. 

Sorry I'm a insufficiently_thoughtful_person who met what sounded like another grown man on the phone. He sounded honest, I just picked a bad location and a bad city. 

Thank you to those of you who have private messaged me and actually care. Thank you to those incredible people who caleld me. My attitude towards these boards is the same. So many wonderful people and a good amount of two faced jerks as well. No matter which one you are thanks for your responses. Have a great day.