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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Spreading the wealth

When I got into town Friday evening, I discovered that sometime afer Monday (Memorial Day) some people had taken it upon themselves to spread some of my wealth (slight though it is): my house has been burgled. They stole things (*) and thoroughly trashed the house. They didn't go out of their way to smash things up, and for that I am grateful. I still haven't repared the damage from the burst water pipe in January; now this.

Also, the local police don't (so far) seem all too concerned with solving the crime, even though the very individual officer who came out knows nearly as well as I do where the criminals live (**).

(*) including a 32' ladder and a 24' ladder ... and food out of the freezer and every can of pop in the house (and I was so thirsty when I got here)

(**) after he left, I found the recently-made beaten path through the woods to the house wherein lives the trog on whom I had called the cops last weekend after he set a vicious dog on me after I told his girlfriend I didn't want her parking on my property. He was one of the officers who had responded to that call.


edit 2014/08/16:
This morning, a neighbor (*) stoped by and told me that the fellow who broke into my house had recently brokrn into theirs and stole a couple of swords he had and then sold them to a woman down the street. I'm getting this second or third-hand (it was hos sister and girl-friend who dealt with the police, since he and his brother-in-law were out of town), but as he put it, the police are "watching" the fellow now.

And I'm thinking, watching him? Why aren't they watching him from behind bars? They now have witnesses that he was selling stolen goods. They now have not just the people from whom he stole the goods, but also those whom he defrauded of $200 in selling them stolen goods. Why isn't he already in jail and on his way back to prison?


(*) who is only the fourth person I've met in my entire life who has the same Christian name as I do; it's a bit disconcerting when he's talking to me and one of his relatives calls out his name.

15 comments:

Crude said...

You don't need my sympathy, but I am truly sorry some jackass(es) did this to you. I hope some way to ID who did it is found and they can be charged.

Ilíon said...


Crude, no matter what you may think, I don't hate you; and I'm not so small that I'd turn my nose up your expression of sympathy. Hell, we were friends once. I just want a sincere apology for intentionally spreading falsehoods about me. Just to be clear, should that ever happen, I'll still not consider you a friend (those days are over) ... I'll not consider you someone I love ... but I'll talk to you.

===========
A neighbor knows some of the cops who patrol this area, and he was able to convince one of them to stop by this evening (I was just about to leave to buy a new lock mechanism) to look at the trail I'd discovered yesterday evening. He also swabbed for DNA on a surface I hadn't realize the thieves had touched until after the first officer left (they took my 23" flatscreen monitor, and they would have had to take off their gloves to unhook the cable). While walking the trail, I noticed a diet Dr Pepper can (which turned out to be unopened), and is probably one the came out of my refrigerator. So, in case they'd touched it with their hands (and since it was something they planned on taking, one expect that they may have been less careful about using gloves), he took it as evidence.

I didn't mention it in the OP, but I actually considered two guys to be possibilities, who just happen to live next door to one another. When I re-examined the trail this moring, I realized that it continued on past the dog guy and went to the house of the second fellow I had suspected (*) as a candidate.

Anyway, this second officer then went down to see if he could talk to the fellow and see if he noticed any evidence in the form of my belongings. The officer later called me! (**) and said the fellow had not been there, but that he saw a ladder on the roof ... and that the guy's neighbor farther on had told him that about 8:00 PM yesterday, the guy had tried to sell him some DVDs (and the thief did clean out my DVD collection). As I understand what he meant to tell me, while he was knocking on the door, he saw a set of computer speakers still in the box (I expect those are mine, I just hadn't noticed them missing yet).

So, it looks like while there may not yet be enough evidence to involve the prosecutor, there may be enough to convince the police department that there is a good chance that level of evidence can be found if the work the evidence they have.

(*) When the first officer was here, he basically didn't want to hear why I suspected the second fellow as a possibility, and while he already knew why I suspeccted the first as a possibility, he right out said that that knowledge wasn't enough to (legally) suspect him. Which lead to the question, why in the Hell did he even bother to ask me whether I had any enemies.

(**) In my experience, the police want to keep us mere citizens as in-the-dark and as far from the case as possible. So I was really taken aback by the call.

B. Prokop said...

Add my heartfelt sympathies.

I also have been the victim of burglary - five times, no less! The only real painful one was where some thieves broke in in broad daylight and stole all my wife's jewelry. Wasn't worth that much, but it included all the irreplaceable gifts I had given her over the years for special occasions such as when our children were born, anniversaries, various successes in life, etc. That hurt.

And just as in your instance, the police knew exactly who the criminals were, but were powerless to do anything about it, because they had no evidence that would stand up in court - despite there being no doubt whatsoever.

Ilíon said...

Five times?! Oh, man! I feel for you. This is the second time for me: back in 1999 just before Thanksgiving, someone (*) smashed one of the patio doors and ransacked the house (though not as badly as this time).


I'm hoping the DNA swab will return evidence. Won't know for several weeks. I want this fellow to go back to prison (**).

The thief came back sometime Saturday night (while I was there) and siphoned gas out of the lawn mower. I'd parked my truck out on the street (my property doesn't front on the street), so ha may not have know I was there. I did that because I was thinking that if it was the dog guy and if he came back and saw the truck, he might slash the tires.

(*) The officer who came out said that he'd chased someone on foot through my property just a week or two before; and I was thinking, why ask me if I know who did it, that's who did it?

(**) He's a neighbor of a neighbor. When I had the burst water pipe in January, I decided it was a good time to see how serious the neighbor was with his "If you ever need a hand, be sure to let me know". This fellow was at their house when I went to ask for help, and the woman of the house volunteered him to also give a hand.

Anyway, after we three got the soggy carpets out and the worst of the water up, he was doing the ol' "No one will give me a chance, 'cause I was in prison" complaint. At the time, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but from the slight interaction I've had with him over the past few weeks (I mean, before this), I'd decided that it's not that no one gives him a chance, it's that he doesn't *want* those chances, and always screws them up.

I need help working on my house; he claimed to want to earn money by helping me ... last weekend (Memorial Day holiday), he *finally* showed up at nearly noon on Monday. I told him it was clear to me that he didn't want to work for me (and I said, "And that's OK" for after all, he didn't owe me anything), and sent him on his way. He probably would have burgled me at some point anyway; I figure that with the realization that I wouldn't voluntarily be giving him any money, he decided to do it now, rather than in a few weeks.

Ilíon said...

No; was Friday night, when I still thought it was the dog guy, that I parked on the street. Saturday night I parked at the house -- so, he even came snooping around *knowing* I was there!

B. Prokop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
B. Prokop said...

Yup, five times.

1. Thieves, most likely kids, entered house (probably through front door), took all the cash out of my wife's purse and my wallet (which had stupidly been left in kitchen - never made that mistake again), and carried off our change jar. Only stuff taken - cash. Nothing else.

2. Thieves, again almost certainly juveniles, entered house (most likely through back door) and made off with my entire CD collection. Fortunately, about 200 yards from my house, they decided to gloat over their loot, saw that it was 100% classical music, and dumped it all by the roadside. Everything recovered the next day.

3. Thieves broke into garage and stole all the family bicycles.

4. (Scariest instance) Individual entered house through back door; wife and I sleeping upstairs. Dog starts barking. Wife says, "Go see what's bothering her." Grumbling, I go downstairs, turning on all the lights as I do so. Intruder flees through back door. Nothing taken.

5. Workmen resurfacing road next to house take lunch break on my property (no one home - we're all either at work or school). See opportunity and dismantle back door to enter house. They know exactly what they're looking for, go upstairs and find wife's jewelry box. Dump it out on bed and swipe jewelry, leaving other things in the box (such as photographs, etc.) behind. Due to timing, etc., police know damn well the workmen are the culprits, but can't prove it.

Dog apparently sleeps through whole thing!

Ilíon said...

Five times at the same place? That's amazing.

Ilíon said...

Some kids tried to kick in the front door soon after I bought the place (so, in 1987 or 1988) -- by kickinid at the hinge side.

Come to think of it, they did get in prior to that, when I was gutting it, and made off with small tools. So, I guess this is the third successful break-in here.

Ilíon said...

"Thieves broke into garage and stole all the family bicycles."

Before I bought this place, someone broke into the basements at the apartment complex. Each apartment had a good sized storage room there. All I had in mine (on which I did have a padlock) was my bicycle, hanging uplocked on the wall and boxes for moving.

They stole the *wheels* off the bicycle, but left the frame, which again, wasn't chained. And the tires were long past needing replaced.

planks length said...

Just a heads up. I mentioned your name without prior permission over on Dangerous Idea, in the conversation labeled Dealing with "Slaves, obey your masters". Hope you don't mind!

Ilíon said...

Oh, now! You don't need my permission to make reference to me ... so long as you spell my name right ;)

Ilíon said...

I drove back to Mansfield two evenings last week, intending to get started on cleaning up the mess the criminal made of my house. But, I didn't actually do anything either time: partly physical and partly psychic exhaustion. Both times, I took a nap (*) and then made the drive back to North Canton, to try to get some sleep in my hotel room before heading to the office.


(*) on the floor! 'cause I still hadn't cleared off one of the beds.

Ilíon said...

On the positive side, I made an addition to my Urban Wildlife collection (wild animals I've spotted on my property): I saw a painted turtle out in the yard on Monday.

Ilíon said...

This break-in has lead to me passing out a week ago ... and coming to with "stuff" all down my front. For a minute, I felf a bit of sympathy for my uncle, the drunk: but that quickly passed when I recalled that he *chose* to drink himself into a passed-out stupor and wake up in a pool of "stuff".

Among the things the thieves stole was some of the food from the freezer and pantry (and they ruined some of what they didn't take). I just haven't yet made much effort to re-stock, so there isn't much food in the house.

Over a few recent weekends, I'd been building some doors (which are finally hung, and just need another coat of paint) for the double garage.

Sunday, a week ago, the neighbor woman I've been paying to cut the grass came by wanting to get some money. The grass was still soaked, so I offered to pay her to help me work on the garage doors. The first thing I wanted to do was take down and paint the two I'd built and hung before I decided it made more sense to paint the materials before assembling them.

So, we took down the first door, and as I was lifting it to a workbench of sorts, I'd lost control of it -- the fact that I hadn't eaten but a couple of ounces of chese all weekend caught up with me.

After we got the other door down, I went into the house to eat something. Since I had bought a few frozen "budget gormet" type meals, that was on the menu. As one was microwaving, I felt myself passing out, but I made it to a sofa before that happened. I almost lost it again after going the get the cooked food. So, I sat back on the sofa with the box of food (or "food", if one prefers), and eat a bite or two.

Then I decided that I could make it back outside (so the neighbor woman wouldn't think I'd abandoned her). After I got back outside, I had to sit in my truck (getting faint again). Even after sitting down, I couldn't continue eating, so I reclined the seat to wait it out.

After a bit, the neighbor had finished the small bit of painting I'd asked her to do. So, she left to see what time she and her sister-in-law were leaving town to visit their men-folk (who are working as carnies).

I happened to glance at the clock as she was leaving ... and then I passed out (even though I was reclining). I came to about seven minutes later, and discovered that, no, that wasn't a "sour burp".

After the neighbor came back and I'd rested some more, she helped me into the house (I was really wrung-out). I probably lay on the floor for another half-hour before I was able take a quick shower before crawling into bed for a few hours. After I'd slept a bit, I was able to eat, and then I rehung the two garage doors, and then drove back to the city where I work.