Ever been the victim of a crime?

[Onkel Neal]

It's 4 am and I just awoke from the most disturbing dream of the last 10 years (don't ask). Can't sleep, so browsing the web, I came across an interesting topic, which I am shamelessly stealing.

Have you ever been the victim of a crime, large or small? Was it reported to the police? Was it solved? Was somebody brought to justice? Did you get your stuff/mojo back? Walk us through it, with details.

[Betonov]

Got my car radio stolen. Never got it back, never reported it. My car was not insured against burglary so what's the use. I was lucky they managed it by pulling back the door with a screwdrver and pull up the pin with a wire, so no damage was actually done to the car itself

[Hottentot]

I was 13 when some approximately 25 - 30 year old dude, backed up by two kids younger than me, tried to rob me in Spain. One of the brats brandished a pocket knife too. It was before the Euro time, I had about 500 pesetas with me. Not really sure anymore how much that would be in modern currency, but it wasn't much. So what to do? Why, be a stupidly stubborn 13-year old and tell them to bugger off in three different languages of course.

They didn't really have guts to take it any further than that, even though we were alone at the street. The brave and exemplary adult kicked me in the stomach and told me to get out. I did. Only when I got back home did the emotions come. Not something I'm going to forget even so many years later.

So I suppose yeah, I have been a victim of attempted crime. Didn't lose anything, so there wasn't anything to get back. A report was filed, but no idea if the police ever caught them. Or rather "him", seeing the other two were just kids. If they did, then all I can say is poor bastards. I haven't heard exactly flattering stories concerning the Spanish prisons, and from what I can tell, it's pretty easy to get in one.

[BossMark]

When I was in Benidorm a few year ago a gypsy woman pick pocketed me when I was going into the Yorkshire Pride pub she got 40 Euros out of my right pocket, if the thieving bitch had gone into my other pocket she would have got over 100 Euros and my moblie. I only noticed when I went to pay for my drinks.

[Skybird]

Once...?

Three times. Street assaults on travels to get my money (twice) or the team eqipment I was carrying (once). No police involved, that is pretty useless in these countries (Algeria and Egypt), and we wanted to move on. I "solved" the issues myself, which was both unexpected and painful to the other side. Well, I was young, and probably stupid. Wouldn't fight these days if it would happen again, but just hand over the money: Im older and fatter . Also, I don't travel anymore.

The appartment of my parents was once broken in.

Some years ago, a junkie on trip tried to stab me, for no reason, on open street, only old reflexes and training helped to to deflect his knife. Left a scar on my hip. After I took him out, I almost got sued for use of excessive violence. It was withdrawn in the very last second. Scum.

And if terror counts as crime, the La Belle bombing in Berlin, 5th April 1986. Three weeks after my 19th birthday, three months after I finished school. I was passing the club in the early morning on bicycle with a friend while we returned from a party, and the club was close to where we lived (our street crossed the main streets vis-a-vis to the club), and when we had turned into the other street we suddenly found ourselves on the concrete, maybe 30 meters away from the club. - whether it was from the blast or from the shock and noise, we cannot say. No pleasant memories, and strangely I have crystal clear and terrible visual images in my head, but it all is totally silent, no sirens, no screams, no voices, no nothing. Scary. Tells me that I have kept some kind of trauma from that night, until today. - Some days ago I read that now (not before now!) they have erected a little plate on that house, saying that there was a bombing attack to which people fell victim - they even had not the courage to mention who ordered the attack and who carried it out, and that it was Libya and Gaddafi. I got very angry some days ago when reading that. Cowardly Berlin azzholes. The city is a prime example of being anti-social and red to the bone. Lives competely on tick, sucking other state's subsidies in by the billions.

They say America is a dangerous place. You should try to live over here.

[The Enigma]

During a holiday we were stolen from a handbag containing our ID's and
credit cards.

That bag was left in the (locked) car for about 10 minutes, while we were
enjoying some spectacular viewpoints at the side of the road.

My wife was looking at a viewpoint just some meters away from were I
was.

When I returned to my car, there was a guy standing next to the car.
He looked at me and said: Are you looking for your wife?

Yes, I replied and he pointed to the second viewpoint and said, she went
that way.

I thanked him and went to her.
After having enjoyed the view we continued our journey.
A kilometer or so from the viewpoints, my wife wondered were the handbag was.

I stopped and we searched the car. The bag was missing.
I turned the car and we went back to the parking were we had stopped just
before.

There we asked several people if they had seen a bag.
Nope they replied. A lady who was selling some touristic gadgets at those
viewpoints told us that we must have been robbed while being away from the
car.

She advised us to go to the police and to take a look in the nearby forest.
Many people get robbed here she said. It's a gang who is specialized in
robbing tourists at these viewpoints.
They take out all the money they may find in the bag and throw away what
they can't use in the nearby forest.

I went to that forest and there I found several belongings from people, like maps,
films, lipsticks, keys and so on. Even empty bags.

Our bag wasn't there.

We went the police were I described to guy who was being friendly to me
while returning to the car.
The police recognized the man immediately.
We know him, he is one of the gang.

He is suspected to actually brake into the car and take out whatever he can
find.
You must have been surprising him, said the police, by returning to your car
so soon, but he was smart enough to fool you.

Since then, we never ever leave anything behind in our car. Not even for five
minutes or so.

Have you ever been the victim of a crime, large or small?
Con saw, genny, mig welder, hilti gun, needle gun, compressor, 2 jackhammers, 3 drills(one magnetic), 2 angle grinders, laser station, theodolite.

Was it reported to the police?
Of course.

Was it solved?
Very easily.

Was somebody brought to justice?
12 mths& 9 mths.

Did you get your stuff/mojo back?
Yes

Walk us through it, with details.
Secure vault had the front ripped of with a loading shovel overnight, the idiots left behind one hilti gun that had broken in the afternoon, so only really 3 possible suspects, everything was recovered by lunchtime. The main developers insurance paid for the damage caused and the crooks kindly "donated" all the wages they were owed.

[Wolferz]

Leaving valuables in your car even for ten minutes is foolish. It only takes a few seconds to pop the lock on most car doors. My brother used to work for a lockout company that responded to AAA customers who locked their keys in the car. He could open the door before they could say, "How long will this take?" WOT?!?

My apartment was robbed one day while I was at work. I came home and found the door knob in the floor. I did report it to the police. They could do nothing. I did however have a suspect in mind who lit a shuck when I met him on the street and asked him to speak with me. I just let it go.

[mookiemookie]

Five years ago I went through a bad breakup. I moved out quickly, found a nice-ish apartment to live in, and moved. I was there for five days when I came home from work one day to find my front door kicked in.

Someone had come in while I was away during the day. They took my kitchen knives (not even a nice set), a leather jacket, my cologne, my computer. my PS2, my XBox 360, a rolling suitcase and they had moved my TV by the door. They wanted to steal it, I guess, but didn't have time or couldn't carry it. I called the police, they came out and the first question they had was did I have the serial numbers of the things they stole. I didn't, so they said there wasn't much they could do for me. They tried taking fingerprints but couldn't get anything.

I felt raped and violated. It was an awful feeling. I've become security crazy now. I have an alarm, some other security measures, and I have two copies of all my serial numbers off of all my electronics. If you take nothing else from my story, take 10 minutes to write down your serial numbers and stash them someplace safe. It helps for insurance as well as the police.

[AVGWarhawk]

Just some music CD swiped from my car. Did not report the incident. My window would not go up. Easy reach in and grab. Really no great loss. Knock on wood, no real major incidents.

[GT182]

Yes! 9/8/95 I was attacked by an employer. Partial justice only..... he did get away with the assault charges seeing he was a buddy of the Judge that presided over the trial. They made a big joke out of it. At least I got WC payments for the rest of my life thanks to the WC judge seeing he was lieing thru his teeth.

[Armistead]

The worse one, years ago. I did my bills in my office. I never had problems with the cleaning company I used. Course, I kept my papers locked in a file cabinet.

I started getting a few bills. Long story short, someone stole my
identity. He racked up over 30K quickly. Course the police and different detectives from creditors got involved. They finally caught the guy. They found over 12 more credit card apps in my name filled out and numerous other peoples info. It was a nightmare. One, they tried to pin many charges on me. I bet I signed my name 1000 times. They would come back and say certain charges are mine. I assured them I've never been to those places, fought. It screwed perfect credit up for years. I told these credit card companies to never issue cards in my name again by phone and letter, but later some did.

They arrested the guy. He was an illegal working for the cleaning company. He got out on bail and of course vanished. Two years later he did it again, even though it got caught early, he still racked up several more thousand dollars. Even then, it's almost happened a few more times, but was caught due to multiple layers of protection. Seems my info is sold around the world from time to time. I even got a new SS number.

[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.

[geetrue]

I got beat up and my van stolen one time, but I knew who did it so I took a couple of guys with me to get it back.

Got beat up so bad this time I woke up on the operating table in a local hospital with the doctor saying,

"You've lost a lot of blood son"

I said that's nice and went back to sleep waking up the next day in a hospital bed trying to figure out what that thing was on the wall with people talking to each other.

It was the TV set lol

I didn't see the hit coming he hit me from behind with a lead pipe.

So a few months go by and one of my frineds says he saw the van on a street just a few miles away from where I lived. We got in his car and went over after dark and I put my key in the ignition and it wouldn't start.

Dead batttery, so my friend gives me a jump start and off I went a happy camper. I was so happy I drove it to Vegas, but that's another story and I must not keep going or I couldn't stop ...

Reminds me of Vito Dumas saying, "Lucky are those that escape the dreairness of everyday life"

"How many reach the end without ever having lived"

I so happy I lived to tell the story

[Buddahaid]

I was a hostage in a robbery of a record store about thirty years ago just before Christmas. Two guys came in, one with a plastic bag over what looked like a gun. He was yelling and waving his arms so I looked up at him and then went back to browsing thinking it was another nut job off the street. The other guy comes up to me and herded me into the back office where everyone else was.

In the office the nut job was threatening an employee to get the safe open while she was making bricks so hard she couldn't work the combination the first two times. She did get it open, they took the cash and fled telling us to stay put in the office. Any way about ten seconds after they left, the security guard comes out of the restroom that was in that back office!

As far as I know they got clean away and I was thankful they hadn't robbed the hostages, but speed was their goal. I was happy to find out that I keep my cool and it was about two hours later that I got the shakes. That was very interesting and I suppose the result of the adrenaline wearing off.