Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns I need to talk to LE but dont want to call local yet...

Law enforcement pro's please reply...

I have a retail used furniture store.

Recently, after picking up several pieces of consigned household goods in a mans house, he came into the store and whispered...

"...you need to look out for that ---------, he stole my Tom Tom, and the other guy took a box of shotgun shells, My nurse ----- saw it"

I was shocked. Although I did not do background checks on these two they were referred by people of the highest integrity and folks I trust.

We have been going in peoples homes now for 18+ months and this is the first incident like this.

I told the consignor how important that it is that I know for sure what happened before I take action. I asked him to have his nurse call me AND to report it to the police.

If he reported they have not contacted me.

I know one of these helpers deals with a pawn shop down the road from me. I went in that pawn shop and they have half a dozen of them on the shelf.

I called one of the managers and asked if I could give him a date name of the person that may have sold it too them could they confirm...they said NO, against the law.

Even though it is a small amount it is too much for me. This happened about two months ago and I have not had these two men back since. I hate not knowing and suspecting them.

Should I call the local police and report it? Do I have the right to do so? I would like to clear them or no for sure they are bad?

To further complicate the issue these two young men are in the local community college. If they get busted and IF it causes them to kicked out of school we are ALL going to pay for it...

Thanks.

The "Victim" (the person that has experienced the loss) will have to initiate the criminal complaint. You really can't testify to anything admissible in Court.

I'd go to the police and inform them that a client has suggested your employees stole his property, and that you'd like to clear them of any possibility of wrong doing, and ask them to check out the possibly stolen items at the pawn shop.

This will accomplish one of two things:

1) You will be rid of a dishonest employee;
2) You won't have to worry about these guys destroying your reputation every time you send them out on a job.

It's also possible that the nurse stole the TomTom and blamed your employees when the theft was discovered by her employer.

It's a job for the cops.

Your over thinking it. First its hearsay so the actual person that witnessed it has to report it. That doesn't mean you can't keep your eyes and ears open. Next if they are found to have committed the crime and end up going to jail and losing a college education, that's the consequences of their actions!

Pawn shops, by law, are required to provide the LE agency in their jurisdiction with a copy of all pawn tickets. It would be rather simple to go to the police station and begin by telling the intake officer your story. They will check that pawn ticket, and if your boys pawned it the police will seize it until the investigation is complete.

Pawn shops are must require photo ID when they pawn or buy an item. I dealt quite a lot with pawn shops; thieves are stupid - they'll pawn what they stole in the town they live in. Pawn shops are required to ask if the item is stolen, but a verbal denial by the seller seals the deal.

In my estimation pawn shops are legal fencing operations of stolen goods. But the police can walk in and demand any and all pawn tickets and property they believe may be stolen and the pawn shop can't do diddly about it; they have to cooperate.

The victim and his "witness" are the ones that need to report it.

Rule #1..... Never voluntary involve the police..... ever.

In my estimation LEOs shouldn't be walking in anywhere and demanding anything.... Gestapo much? Cops need to remember who they work for.....

My advice: Ask the guys.... seriously. I spent a couple years in retail management.... you can typically tell if a thief is lying.

When someone has raped and beaten your little girl you'd think otherwise.



They work for the victims. That's who's property they are retrieving from legal thieves.


They'll just lie, and all you can do, by your standards, is fire them...unless they're civil service or belong to a union.

1. Police can provide no justice there....

2. They work for everyone....

3. Then fire'em.... or don't....

LEOs rarely make any situation better......

You'd be surprised; predators hate being locked up.



OK


Spoken like a man with a lot of experience with LEOs. I need to consult with you on my next research paper.

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- - - - - "This happened about two months ago and I have not had these two men back since. I hate not knowing and suspecting."
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Maybe you have already resolved 'YOUR' problem with these two employees as you state:
"I have not had them back since?"

Also, as stated here by others, you are not the victim nor the witness to an alleged theft. Whether the 'accused' are your friends, family, employees, or anyone else ... It is still the victims duty or his perogative to report the incident to the proper authorities.

If the victim and witness are unwilling to do so, you may have NO choice but to live with some doubt or uncertainty - or just give the two boys the benifit of your doubt.

Not in this case. The store owner can report the location (pawn shop) of stolen property. The police are obligated to locate the property and determine if it is indeed stolen or not. If it is, then the owner has to file charges, the store owner cannot file the charges for him. At the very least the owner will get his property back. He doesn't have to proceed with asking the police to present the case to the state's attorney.

OTH, the state can proceed with a prosecution, if the evidence is compelling enough, even if the property owner explicitly states he doesn't want to have charges filed against the two men.

I don't have a dog in this fight but I would be willing to bet that the nurse is the one who took the stuff and used the guys being in the home as a perfect opportunity


....and I bet you she won't testify or even make a statement

Yup.

I recently had all my gates stolen and my camp robbed at my hunting club, I found out who did it and recovered all my stolen property within 24 hours, never involved the police. The police would have just written a report and I would have never seen my sh*t. The police are not crime solvers, they are report writers, especially on what they see as small crimes.