[Sailor Steve]

In 1995 I was playing in a band and all of our equipment was in a machine shop behind the house where one of us lived. One night we showed up for practice and my Fender Jazz Bass was missing, along with the little PA amp we used for vocals. The Fender was a cheap Mexican model, so it wasn't a priceless classic or anything like it. The guy who owned the house suspected his nephew or one of his friends, as the lad had stayed with his uncle for a few days just before the theft. The police were called and they took statements, but we were advised that the likelihood of recovery was very low.

I bought a cheap no-name bass to replace the Fender and got on with my life. A few weeks later our not-so-bright drummer showed up for practice and asked me "Hey Steve. Do you want a bass like your one that was stolen? I saw one like it in a pawn shop yesterday." I went to the pawn shop in question and immediately recognized certain markings that could only have been put there by me. I went down to the corner McDonalds and used the pay phone to call the local gendarmes. Together we went into the pawn shop. The cops compared the numbers on my paperwork to the ones on the bass and impounded it and the PA amp, which was also there.

In order to stay out of trouble himself the pawnshop owner identified the person who brought the stuff in, and it turned out to be one of the nephew's friends. In due course we got our stuff back, and I turned the no-name bass into a fretless, doing all the work myself. There was a funny aftermath: The kid who had stolen and pawned the stuff called the owner of the house and asked if we could bail him out. We had a good laugh over that.

I 1998 I was living with a friend in a 3-story condo. He was trying to sell some of his furniture, and occasionally had people looking at it. One day I came home from work to find the front door broken open. When I went to my bedroom I found that my Playstation was gone, as were a few of the games I had bought for it. He must have been in a hurry, as my computer, checkbook and everything else of any value to me was still there. My roommate was much harder hit, with his stereo being stolen, and he surmised that it had to be the young guy he was showing his couch to the day before.

Yes, the police were called, and a nice young lady officer spent the better part of an hour taking our statements and asking questions, and looking over the rooms things were taken from. They eventually caught the guy, but the property was gone. My roommate had insurance and everything was replaced, so in the end it we came out alright.