How to Catch a Thief.... ideas, suggestions? (3g related)

Okay, so last night, someone broke into my accord. It was locked, I don't have stickers on it, and it's generally kind of a POS but I like it. Anyway, they kicked apart my dash to extract my radio.... totally broke everything near the dash, and this is the funny thing: ITS A FIFTY DOLLAR SONY CD PLAYER. NEW. I don't have a system. I have cheap $15 clearance speakers in my car. I was so pissed off. I filed a police report, which took over one hour of phone stuff. I also posted an ad on craigslist, saying look out for a stolen Sony CDX-GT210 Cd player. I also filed a police report, which took over one hour of phone stuff.

I GOT A RESPONSE. Some guy BOUGHT a stereo (same model) from a kid in a town about 10 minutes away from here. He said there was a CD in it, and if I told him the CD, he'd give me the kids number. The question is... what to do if it is my deck? Can the police do ANYTHING to this kid without video, without prints? Is it worth my time? Or should I get "creative"? Please help me out, let me know if you've had similar situations, etc...

Wow that's a hard one. It would be good if the police could get prints off your car, then take prints off the stereo, with the testimony from the purchaser as well, and you have a reciept or a credit card bill showing the purchase, you could probably press charges against him. You have to have all the evidence though. It's not just the fact he stole a cheapie stereo, its the rest of the car that's now trashed that he did to get at the stereo that would cost big bucks to fix properly.

I think there are some online legal sites that can give advice about such things too but I dont have any links sorry. I have a prepaid legal service through our investment firm so I use them for speeding tickets and other legal questions, it's well worth the small monthly fee, for just such things that come up in life when you may need representation or just need to know what your rights are.

use your brain

Man that blows. I think just having your car all ripped apart, plus the guy who bought the deck as a witness would be more than enough evidence for the police to at least arrest him. If you've got the guy's info, you could take him to small claims court and get an order against him to pay up so you can fix your car. I think bringing the buyer off Craigslist, and having him testify would be enough for the judge to probably seal the deal. I mean what would the chances be of the same CD being in the same deck being sold the next day after your car is broken into? Do everything you can to catch the little thieving fucker!!! Do call the Police and push them as hard as you can. This kid will just keep breaking into cars if he doesn't pay.

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Originally Posted by 2ndGenGuy

Man that blows. I think just having your car all ripped apart, plus the guy who bought the deck as a witness would be more than enough evidence for the police to at least arrest him. If you've got the guy's info, you could take him to small claims court and get an order against him to pay up so you can fix your car. I think bringing the buyer off Craigslist, and having him testify would be enough for the judge to probably seal the deal. I mean what would the chances be of the same CD being in the same deck being sold the next day after your car is broken into? Do everything you can to catch the little thieving fucker!!! Do call the Police and push them as hard as you can. This kid will just keep breaking into cars if he doesn't pay.

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i wouldnt rely on that evidence.


I work at a motorcycle shop, and early last winter we had someone cut through our storage fence, steal a sled, and ride it through the hole in the fence, down onto a trail, and to a parking lot a little ways away and load it into a van.


A couple of weeks later, one of our regular customers who knew about the situation said there was a sled on craigslist, same year/make/model etc for sale on craigslist, but it was basically just a motor and frame. We made the police aware, and the customer ended up buying it and bringing it to us so we could take a look at it.

Not to surprisingly, the vin number was cut out of the frame, and the engine number was ground off the engine. The police came in, and used some sort of chemical on the part of the engine that the number was removed, and managed to raise the numbers from the metal (some real CSI shit goin on :lol: ) On top of this one of the tecs had borrowed it the week before and a stud had come out of the track and put a hole in the heat exchanger (radiator). Guess what? The sled carcass had a hole in the heat exchanger.


So they now had proof, knew who it was, so you would think this guy is going down hard.



Guess what, here it is almost a year later and not a damn thing has been done about it. Cops suck....good luck getting your shit taken care of.

Yeah... I called them and sorta got the same response. Unless they saw him do it, or had video evidence or a confession, there isn't really shit I can do. So lame. Cops sure are willing to ticket the average citizen for driving 10mph over, but when it comes to doing actual policework, they sure suck ass.

if the police are no help to you, molitove cocktail his house. just make sure not to leave any prints on the bottle......

put a few bars of soap in a pillowcase and whoop the shit out of him :lol:

I feel your pain but urge you not to get "creative." The question you need to ask yourself is this: "Is a $50 stereo worth felony charges?" You'll get a new stereo. The kid will eventually get his comeuppance. Don't soil your karma.

Generally, here are some car theft dos and don'ts:
- Keep the inside of the car clean. Leave nothing, no matter how worthless, in plain sight. That includes your stereo faceplate
- Keep the car washed, but not too clean. You want it to be boring and invisible, not outstanding in any way
- Use a Club
- Park in high traffic areas with good light
- Keep your karma clean ;)

Find more tips here

It isn't the stereo. It's a $50 stereo. I can buy another one in 30 minutes. What I'm fucking pissed off about is that my DASH IS TOTALLY DESTROYED. Now I have to go to a junkyard, pull parts, disassemble the whole fucking dash, and fix it all.

THAT is why I'm so fucking pissed, and that is why I would gladly break both his hands with a vice grips.

Also: Car was clean. Only thing in it was stereo, which looks stock. it's a cheap, black plastic CD player that looks like it belongs there.

beat his ass. You will feel much better, do it after you fix the dash, and use that frustration as motivation lol

yeah well the cops are not interested in who broke in your car, but they are interested in who is breaking into several cars. They gather all the information just like they did with you, then use the info to find patterns.
it sux the car was broke up, just shows it was young kids that didnt know all they had to was take one or two bolts and push it out.

f it use entrapment lol leave 100 bucks on the seat and put up a video cam lol
as soon as he brakes in go out and whoop his ass lol


and for future safety put an alarm in

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Originally Posted by jdmaccordnut

It isn't the stereo. It's a $50 stereo. I can buy another one in 30 minutes. What I'm fucking pissed off about is that my DASH IS TOTALLY DESTROYED. Now I have to go to a junkyard, pull parts, disassemble the whole fucking dash, and fix it all.

THAT is why I'm so fucking pissed, and that is why I would gladly break both his hands with a vice grips.

Also: Car was clean. Only thing in it was stereo, which looks stock. it's a cheap, black plastic CD player that looks like it belongs there.

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Sorry, I didn't mean to sound flip. I know what it's like to get your stuff stolen, broken, etc. and I've felt just like you. I just don't think the downside risks (jail time, police harassment, gang reprisal, whatever) are worth it. My clean record is not something I'd give up for some punk kid.

i would sue the kid for the damigs to the car

That's terrible man. I would totally agree that it's not the head unit that bothers you its the fact that they damaged your car. Damn. I can't even imagine how angry you must be, I know I would be.

On a side note however have any of you heard of the Xbox 360 thief who was found and harassed etc. until he gave the stuff back to the man he stole it from?

Check it here

Basically an Xbox 360 and laptop got stolen and the guy uncovered so much by searching the internet and checking swap shops and stuff like that. He found out who it was, who was involved and made it public. After tons of people harassed him he finally broke down and the stuff was mostly returned I do believe. Very interesting. Show's how a little can go a far way. Don't do anything drastic though. lolz good luck.

Here's a better look. Amazing Stuff.

Here

if you can get the kid's phone number of course call the police and at least see what they will do.

do not "get creative" it will just get you in trouble too

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/586693...amer_car_alarm

i just have a 2 way alarm and im happy

If the price of what he stole was cheap then there is no point in going through the police because it wont be a felony or anything and he would just get a small fine. And like roodoo said keep the cops informed because it may lead to the same guy doing it to all different cars. Personally if it were me I would find out if it was him, and if it was beat him until i felt it was worth $50 then leave it at that, but you have to be careful in what you do because you dont want to be the one who gets in trouble for it.

I always thought James Bond's exploding Lotus was the best in vehicle security.

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Originally Posted by jdmaccordnut

It isn't the stereo. It's a $50 stereo. I can buy another one in 30 minutes. What I'm fucking pissed off about is that my DASH IS TOTALLY DESTROYED. Now I have to go to a junkyard, pull parts, disassemble the whole fucking dash, and fix it all.

THAT is why I'm so fucking pissed, and that is why I would gladly break both his hands with a vice grips.

Also: Car was clean. Only thing in it was stereo, which looks stock. it's a cheap, black plastic CD player that looks like it belongs there.

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that shit right there is an all day job..

anyways sorry to hear about it bro.. good luck with everything

Sorry to hear about your loss (the damage, not so much the cheapo disc player) I had the same thing happen to my crappy 92 cavilier only it was a $1500 system and they trashed my car to the point of needing bungies to hold down my trunk, busted a window, ripped the back seat off the firewall, drilled a few locks....it was a mess.... It happened to me on Thanksgiving too :(
Best bet is do what everyone said, remove your faceplate and keep absolutely nothing in your car at all times....thats what I do now. I even remove my $80 cd player's faceplate from my civic when i go to my friends house that my cavi got broken into (on his parking lot)

Bluff the kid into a confession. Get yourself a recording device, go to see the kid and tell him that all you want is the stereo back and money to get a another dash from the junkyard. Otherwise yuo'll file a police report and the police will have another neighborhood suspect to harass when something gets stolen.

You'll have all his personal info, for when something like this happens again, majority of criminals are to stupid to realize how stupid they really are. He'll be back.

And you can always take him to small claims court. You can but not worth your time.

i'd say go ahead and see if the police will at least arrest him. especially if it's a kid, he might not be smart enough to not admit it and voila, he's done.

also, in the way of vehicle security, don't play your system near your house or near spots where you are known to hang out. turn it down.