stolen gear

[wc]

Hi, my friend and I had our guitars stolen out of his truck earlier today. Looking for a good resource to post the serials or anything else. Anyone have any suggestions? Help!

[joel hamilton]

First of all. I am sorry. That SUCKS. Ugh. Makes me wanna puke.

Anyway.

You should call the cops and give them the serial's, because they will get it out there quite well actually, including a list that pawn shops have access to.

This obviously does not ensure that the pawn shop will run the numbers, but at least they will have them.

Good, luck.

Crap.

[skinnyemo77]

do you have pictures of the guitars you owned?

if you do, it might be covered under your car insurance. check your policy for coverage of things stolen from your car.

my dad and i had a shite load of gear stolen from our garage in 2001, but since we had pictures of all the gear before it was stolen and fmv prices for them, they were covered under our homeowner's insurance.

just a thought.

[wc]

What kind of pictures do you mean? We have just pictures of us playing the guitars, but not detailed ones of the serials etc. My buddy is checking on the insurance today so we'll see what happens

[aurelialuz]

first, that sucks man. i had a guitar i dearly loved stolen a couple years ago. it really broke my heart and the guitar i bought to replace it, (same model, a year apart) just doesn't have the same playability. not even close.

You should call the cops and give them the serial's, because they will get it out there quite well actually, including a list that pawn shops have access to.

This obviously does not ensure that the pawn shop will run the numbers, but at least they will have them.

you don't want the pawn shops to have those serial numbers. i was told this by a pawn shop specifically when my guitar was stolen. "cause then we'll know they are stolen, we won't buy them and they'll stay stolen." the police could care less, the police in portland, anyway.

guitar shops, on the other hand, are usually filled with people who feel your pain, let them know. watch the 'for sale' ads. watch ebay.

i hope you have better luck getting yours back than i did.

alex

[aurelialuz]

oh, and with regards to insurance, mine was covered by my renter's insurance, but since my deductible was so high, i only got $200 back on an ~$800 guitar. i didn't need a photo, i just went on ebay, found the same kind of guitar, faxed it to the insurance and that was that.

alex

[fireproof]

I would have your friend go to all the pawn shops he know's and look and ask as they often keep them in the back if it was for a loan.
have him leave the serial# and his phone #
I bought back 3 guitars in Philly 6 months after they were stolen from my studio

Adam

[clamp]

Make a police report immediately. Without this, if you see the instrument two years or two months from now in some pawn shop, you'll be able to do nothing. The report should be as specific as possible: serial number, pictures, case it was in, whatever you have, suspicious people around at the time, probably anything leading to a conviction. (Police want to arrest and convict people not get your bike back.)

For example, I found a sound module in a pawn shop closely resembling one stolen from my work. By luck we still had the box and on a packing label the serial number. I went back to the pawn shop and quietly confirmed the serial number (excuse: to look at the back to see what kind of jacks and power supply etc.). Then we called the police. They asked us to confirm it was still there. I called the pawn shop and asked some mundane question about it. (In this case I had to remind them what it looked like. They're not audio experts.) Then I called the cops back.

They went and seized the item. It was returned to us. In my state, I believe it is a legal requirement to submit your id and have a picture taken to pawn or sell an item. Using this data the police made an arrest and obtained a confession.

The morale: Make a report, do some leg work checking local pawn-dives and resellers, don't expect pawn shops to turn down good merchandise because they are worried it was stolen from you, don't expect pawn shops to surrender good merchandise because you say it was stolen from you, and if you are lucky to find it send in the cops and let them retrieve.

Good luck.

[New Orleans Steve]

Sorry to hear about it.
In Louisiana the law is simular. Pawn shope have to report ALL merch. they take in. Pawns can be redeamed at any time within 3 mos. (longer for Jewlery), but the record of the trasnsaction goes to the cops who DO crosscheck it with Police reports. If they are SOLD (not pawned) they have to hold it for 30 days pending police intervention. Pawns cannot go out for sale for 90 days. This gives the police time to examin or even pick up merch. Which then becomes evadance along with the pawn or sale record. This record has an afadavid stating the pawn broker affirned the ID of the Merch. and the person pawining.
Typacaly, the police may want to examin an item. They can even issue an order to call them if the person comes in to pick it up! I've seen them come down and pick up someone who came it to redeam the item.
Of course, the police work best with an exact description and serial #. The weak link here is consistancy of the description, so the data base will work.

But, AN ADVOCATE helps. BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE. This is just the squeeky wheel gitting the grease. People love music. I would go to the aproprate police division and politely ask for there help. Check back in a few days then in a week. Don't be a Morty (as in "Good Fellows"), but check! Apeal on the "I'm a working musician" level. You would be suprised, but even non musicians [may] understand. Most cops would probably rather look for your insturment than a typrowriter. Here in New Orleans, so few people ask for help (or even file a police report ( YA we have a LOT of crime here!)), they WILL help you. It's actually an under utalised resourse and they are egar to help a straight theft case with a police report of the orginal crime (so many are a "You owe rent so I took your instrument to the pawn shop" cases ).
If the cops are comvinced that it yours they will Broker a deal with the pawn broaker. I've seen them say, "Well it could go into evadance where it may be for a year or more. And eventually get back to the rightfull owner. More likely, it will be stolen from (By?) the Cops! So, they will offer the pawn broaker the option of acepting the actual hard cash they are out of or a portion of that eather way it is PENNIES on the $ to get the instrumrnt back. The recept and record can go to a criminal or cival proceding along with the police testomony of the events with regards to the pawn/ sale.

The most importand point. KEEP SERIAL NUMBERS, MAKE A POLICE REPORT, FOLLOW UP and be nice to the police, they may actually be able to help.
Steve

check us out online www.frenchmenstreetrecords.com

[vvv]

Some of the magazines, for example Vintage Guitar, will post serial numbers and descriptions, but there is obviously a while until publication....

By all means, do the police report thang as stated above.

[ctmsound]

Hey man, I work at Skip's Music in Sacramento. If you want, send me some info on the guitars and I'll keep my eye out for anything coming in off the street. We buy used gear all the time, but yeah, we hold it for 30 days while the serials are checked.

File a police report, ASAP.

[wc]

Thanks for all the info. Working on getting the serials out, and visiting local pawn shops. Chris, thanks for the offer, my buddy actually said he talked to you on the phone, so he should be getting the info to you. I still have hope! Thanks