Re: [Leica] Leicas stolen - LUG strikes back!

[Henry Ting <henryting10@yahoo.com>]

I can relate to your experience of losing a prized
collection of Leicas. Amazing the cops would treat the
case as just a normal petty theft, considering the
agonizing experience of what a Leicaphile gone
through.

- --- Jim Laurel <jplaurel@nwlink.com> wrote:
> This is an amazing story of luck and coincidence
> that I just had to share...
> 
> Some of you may remember my posting from a few
> months ago regarding the
> theft of my M7 along with 28 and 50 Summicrons and
> Elmarit 90 from the KFC
> in Kent, Washington.  I also filed a police report
> as a matter of course,
> but it was the LUG and vigilant LUGger, Ted Bayer,
> that saved my bacon!
> 
> A few weeks after my posting, Ted happened to be at
> Robe's Camera Store in
> Tacoma, Washington.  During his conversation with
> the store owner, Ron, he
> learned that a young girl had called the store
> trying to sell a Leica M7 and
> an assortment of lenses.  Her story was apparently
> that the "old" camera had
> been given to her by her grandmother.
> 
> Ted thought that the equipment might be mine and
> forwarded my LUG posting to
> Ron, who called the girl back saying he might like
> to purchase the equipment
> from her.  A meeting was organized, and the girl
> showed up with the
> equipment, her boyfriend and two small children. 
> Ron checked the serial
> numbers and sure enough, it was my lost Leica gear! 
> The police were called,
> the equipment confiscated, and the girl was given a
> ticket.  (wha wha wha
> WHAT?)
> 
> I knew nothing about this until a couple of weeks
> later, when Ted emailed me
> saying "...heard you got your equipment back - good
> for you..."  I'd not
> heard anything from the police, so proceeded to
> follow up.  None of the
> authorities involved seemed to know anything about
> the case, so it took a
> few days for them to sort everything out and get my
> name associated with the
> case.  The District Attorney's office was surprised
> that she'd only been
> given a ticket, when the value of the property was
> significantly higher than
> misdemeanor levels.  The detective in charge of the
> case was incredulous
> when I emailed him with the retail values for each
> piece.  It goes to show
> you how little people know about Leicas.  To the
> police officers, it was
> just an old-fashioned camera.
> 
> It turns out that the young girl who stole the
> equipment was actually an
> employee of the KFC.  She immediately admitted to
> the crime, but said she
> had done it to provide a better environment for her
> children.  I don't
> understand how one provides a better environment for
> children by becoming a
> felon, but that was her argument.  She was remanded
> to some sort of
> counseling program for treatment.  I just picked up
> the equipment this
> morning.  It is all in good working order with no
> apparent signs of
> mistreatment.
> 
> So... A BIG THANK YOU to Ted Bayer for his
> assistance in recovering my
> equipment, and also to Ron at Robi's in Tacoma, WA,
> for taking the
> initiative to engage the thief and bring her to
> justice.
> 
> Lessons learned:
> 1. Keep an eye on your gear
> 2. Associate with people of good character like the
> members of the LUG  ;-)
> 3. Stay away from KFC!
> 
> --Jim Laurel
> 
> --
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