[Leica] Dumb camera thieves

["Tim Atherton" <tim@KairosPhoto.com>]

For all those who worry about thieves targeting Leica's by the red dots
(followed by the urge to use black tape) the following story from another
list proves Marc's point about your average thief being one fry short of a
Happy Meal:

> Last week my car was broken into and several thousand
> dollars worth of camera equipment was stolen. As you
> can imagine, the newspaper is filing an insurance
> claim.
>
> And now...the rest of the story.
> I laugh to keep from crying at times.
>
> The person that broke into my car also stole the
> company cell phone. After little sleep that night, I
> came to work the next day and made a call to our
> cellular provider and reported the phone stolen. It's
> a good thing I didn't report it stolen right after it
> happened. 14 calls were made just minutes after my car
> was broken into, including more than 2 calls to the
> thief's own home and another to his girlfriend who is
> currently on five years probation for receiving stolen
> property.
>
> Stay with me here...it gets better.
>
> After turning the case over to major crimes, a
> detective started to shake some trees and paid a visit
> to the girlfriend. Already on probation, she wanted
> nothing to do with the stolen camera gear and offered
> some insight, and some evidence to the detective.
> "I saw the camera gear, he (the thief boyfriend)
> showed it to me and said it was his aunt's, who wanted
> it sold. He did throw away some disk thing in the
> trash can. It's over there if you want it," the
> girlfriend says.
>
> So I'm paid a visit at work the next day by the
> detective, who has my stolen disk in his hand.
> "Just for kicks," he says, "Let's see if
> they by any chance took a picture of something."
>
> Not only did they take pictures of the vehicle they
> used to steal the gear with, they (the thief and a
> sidekick), took pictures of - you guessed it - EACH
> OTHER!!!
>
> Their self portraits now hang on the wall in the
> police station. The two young lads, both 19, are on
> the run and facing felony warrants.
>
> P.S. No, I didn't get the gear back. An informant told
> the detective he "got rid" of the evidence.

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