To catch a thief

[scarfman]

Wednesday the prosecutor's office phoned to tell me that my car thief's hearing was that day. This was the first I'd heard that they'd even caught him. She told me he was a meth addict who'd been in and out of rehab, and the judge had given him two years in prison, which led qtrhorserider to the conclusion that this wasn't his first offense.

In conversation it came up that the thief'd left stuff in the car that wasn't mine. The prosecutor said the investigators would probably want to get ahold of that, and Thursday morning a detective met me at the car (still in the parking space at work where I left it after the accident) and took possession of the stuff. He figured the name on the Selective Service registration card may be a clue as to the owner of the golf clubs.

I asked him how the guy'd been caught, and the detective had a copy of the file so he looked up the report. The thief'd been spotted driving the car about two a.m. the Monday after the Friday morning the car was reported missing, by a couple of cops in a cruiser. The cops chased him for about six blocks and lost him. Then he abandoned the car, figuring, "I can stand at a bus stop, at three a.m. when no buses will be coming, in the rain with no coat on, and look not at all suspicious." So the cops snabbed him, and when he said, "I don't have anything to do with that stolen car," they said, "The stolen car that you left your wallet in?"

Comments

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

You and divalea should swap stupid thief stories. Or better yet, collaborate on a stupid theives comic. That'd be awesome. ^_^

[scalderwood.livejournal.com]

"In thirteen years with the Bureau, I've discovered that there's no amount of money, manpower or knowledge that can equal the person you're looking for being stupid."
-FBI Special Agent Mike Casper, The West Wing

[abates.livejournal.com]

You know, if they made cars so you had to solve a simple math problem to open the door, they could probably cut the number of car thefts by at least 90%.

[pedanther]

True.

It would also cut down drink-driving fatalities. But then all the people who see nothing wrong with driving a car while too drunk to solve a simple maths problem would complain that their rights were being infringed.