Burgulars! Crooks ripped me off!

32 Chevy · December 05, 2004, 01:50:57 AM

Thursday morning my son in law called me, saying, "hey, how come the Mig welder is behind the maple tree in the pasture?" Immediately I knew it was gonna be a bad day....

Yeah, they got me good. Oxy acetylene set, all my 1/4,3/8, 1/2" drive tools, portapower, air tools, and they went through the drawers of the roll away getting good stuff and leaving the cheap tools behind. I'm still trying to figure out the inventory. You know how you collect tools for 40 years and have favorite ones? The beat up brass hammer your Dad made, stuff liike that? Geez, I'm * off.

And the most scary part is where the ba**turds took a hammer to the motion detector light- The light had a plastic housing and when it was hanging from the side of the shop it caught on fire so the burning plastic acted like napalm. The broken light was hanging by the wires and the only thing that saved the building was that the wires burned through so the remains of the light fell to the ground. I think that they were in the process of taking the MIG when they saw the building starting to catch fire so they dropped the Mig and ran. They had to carry the stuff over 100 yards to a street end.

I was hoping that last night they would come back for the Mig so I camped out with my cell phone and .44 Mag waiting for them but no luck. The sherriff said that because our place is so quiet and secluded, the theif is almost undoubtedly someone who I would recognize. Wonderful.

So, now I have that off my chest. Just had to vent a bit!

Dave R.

HotRodLadyCrusr · December 05, 2004, 02:04:39 AM

:evil: This SUCKS! Sorry to hear the news. I sure hope maybe something shows up at a pawn shop and the cops are able to catch the theives. Please tell me your homeowners insurance will cover the loss. :evil:

btrc · December 05, 2004, 06:52:59 AM

Bad deal. Make sure you let your oxy/acetalyne supplier know about it. Maybe the thiefs will return the tanks sometime for a refill. I know the one I go to records serial numbers on the tanks.
One nice thing about living in the country like I do is that not too many people know what's in my shop. When my son's were at home I used to worry because they would sometimes show their friends my cars. Some of them were really not really upstanding citizens.
The bad thing about being in the country is that if someone did want to take something no lock is going to help because if no one is home, then there is no way anyone else would here or see anything being broken into.

Bob

Crosley.In.AZ · December 05, 2004, 09:01:18 AM

this is the first thing I read this AM... sure am PO'd now. I hate thieves, shoot all of them.

A friend had most of his tools stolen years ago at his house in Black Canyon City. He lives on a small hill, very rough road up to it. Had to be a neighbor kid of his.

kb426 · December 05, 2004, 10:06:47 AM

I'm sorry ,too. There will be lots of grief in replacing everything.

enjenjo · December 05, 2004, 10:52:41 AM

You have my sympathy :cry: I was there three years ago. I made an insurance claim, they paid to the limits of my insurance, which wasn't enough, I am still noticing things that are missing, just a couple months ago I noticed they got my Snapon 1/2" drive impact. Don't use it much, but it was a $300 tool. We never recovered anything. My feeling is it was someone I know, I have suspicions but no proof who it was. I do know the people I suspect have not been back since then.

I added bars on the windows, more security lighting, and a camera system, but that is after the horse is gone.

Insult to injury my insurance was canceled because of the claim, the next fall, and I ended up having to get high risk insurance because of it. So the premiums are three times as high as they were before, even with a much higher deductible. If I can make it another year without a claim, I may be able to get regular insurance again, according to my agent.

40 · December 05, 2004, 10:54:09 AM

Sorry to hear about your mess! I believe the officer is probably correct in assuming it's probably someone you'd recognize.I have been burglerized twice,both times things were stolen that weren't in plain sight and many valuable things clearly visible were left.Both happened while my son was still at home and during the day when school was going on.He had a couple of friends that let's just say had less than a stellar reputation and one of these characters was truent from school the day my gun/archery collection was stolen.I gave this information to the police and they supposedly checked into it.I provided them with all of the serial #'s,identifiable markings etc. but nothing was ever found.I heard a rumor a few years later that the young man I suspected had indeed ripped me off and that he panicked when he thought he was going to be caught and threw the entire collection in the river.Some of these firearms had been handed down 3 generations...impossible to ever replace.I won't even get into the battle with the insurance company...let's just say I hope you have MUCH better luck than I did

Nothing was ever proven but my son also strongly believed his "pal" had ripped us off,some of the items stolen belonged to him and many had a sentimental attachment for him as well...Let's just say over that summer,my son felt the need to slobber-knock him on several occasions.Though I usually don't condone violence,I did smile and make an exception in this case

Crosley.In.AZ · December 05, 2004, 10:59:34 AM

enjenjo's comment on the camera brings this to my mind...

2 years ago my work place spent about 12k $$ on a video camera system rather than install some new tall wrought iron type fences to replace sagging chain link stuff.

We have handed several video tapes to the police showing crooks breaking into cars , the shop , the yard. Not 1 person has been caught.

phat46 · December 05, 2004, 11:15:03 AM

nothing worse than a thief; sorry to hear that they got you, I ve only been ripped off a couple times, just minor stuff and it p1ssed me off to no end.. If i ever catch someone messing with my stuff i won't call the cops, the thief will pay for all the others that ever messed with my stuff.
Good luck getting your stuff back, but you know that you'll probably have to replace it all. i hope your insurance will be good to you. I didn't realise that those motion detedtors would catch on fire like that, i have two on my house/shop, makes me wonder now...

BELLM · December 05, 2004, 11:27:43 AM

Lucky the shop didn't burn. I live in a very rural area, 3 miles to pavement. We were hit about 8 yrs ago, while building the house. Caught the guy, he had hit at least 20 or 30 houses, mostly weekend homes, less than a year he was out of prison, I was out about $8000. Sold a kid a motorcycle yesterday, know his family but not him. Needed a tool while loading, instead of opening up the shop, letting him see my cars & tools, I got a crescent wrench out of the truck, made do. I hate not trusting people but I hate a thief even more.
Good luck!

purplepickup · December 05, 2004, 12:00:30 PM

I'm sorry to hear this. It really sucks to lose those favorite things. You just can't replace a tool that has special sentimental value. The new ones just don't spark the same memories. It's not much consolation but it could have been worse if the building had burnt down.

I've had my house broke into once and it's hard to explain the feeling when you first realize what happened. I worry a lot about my shop and people think I'm overly paranoid when I keep the doors shut almost ALL the time and don't let hardly anyone know what's in there. Yesterday I moved cars around from bay to bay in the shop and I had each one running so all I had to do is open the doors and make the switch as quick as possible. One car went by and all the teenagers inside were gawking into the open shop. It makes you paranoid.

This is a good reminder to the rest of us to do some kind of inventory of our stuff. I think even a walk around with a digital camera snapping pics of as much as possible might jog our memories if we do get broke into. When it happened to me I didn't even think about some of the stuff that was missing until I went to use it.

I heard on the radio that some of the jails in towns around here are filled to overcapacity and they are letting a bunch of "non violent" people out early.....people convicted of breaking and entering. Even when they do catch them there isn't much jailtime...if any. :evil:

Sean · December 05, 2004, 12:06:27 PM

That sucks.

My Great grandparents left their 90 acre "farm" to the entire family when they passed on. Very secluded with a mile long dirt driveway running through the woods.

Deputys showed up at my 80 year old grandpa's house last year and asked him to ride out to the old farm with them. When they got there, they found that the 15'x20' living room of the old house was packed so tight with VCR's, DVD players, TV's, Stereos and a few Computers, that you couldn't even walk through the room.

Seems they had ripped off an entire truckload of stuff and apparently one of the neighboring landowners had noticed them hauling it in at night. We never have figured out how they ever found the house in the first place, but they were all rounded up and arrested. We tore the old house down right before Deer season this year, so if anybody else finds it, they won't have any place to hide their stolen goods.

jaybee · December 05, 2004, 12:27:21 PM

Quote from: "enjenjo"Insult to injury my insurance was canceled because of the claim, the next fall, and I ended up having to get high risk insurance because of it. So the premiums are three times as high as they were before, even with a much higher deductible. If I can make it another year without a claim, I may be able to get regular insurance again, according to my agent.

Not the first story like that I've heard. I worked in the underwriting department of an insurance company for a short while and I'm not sure those people shouldn't be lynched with the other thieves.

When I built my garage I spec'ed it without windows just to discourage burglers. I installed the side door latch strikers with 3" screws into the studs to help reinforce the jamb as well and have considered adding some steel to that area. Still, if someone really wants in I'm sure they'll find a way. This afternoon I'm installing a motion sensor light. Bad that yours caught fire, but most any damaged electrical device might've done the same. Glad you still have the building--and that they didn't clean you out completely.

My brother-in-law has had repeated attempts to get into his shop and has lost a few things in the process. Word got out among the no-good crowd that he had a shop full of valuable woodworking tools and the trouble didn't stop until he had all the windows boarded up, the door secured with heavy locks and a steel bar, two motion sensor lights, and an alarm.

One more bit of trivia that won't make you feel real comfortable. A building inspector told me that a really determined person can break into most new homes with just a utility knife! All you need is a position where you can hide the entry completely from view, or a remote location where the neighbors are too far away to get a good look. Cut the siding with the knife, kick through the styrofoam sheathing and interior drywall, you're in!

Sean · December 05, 2004, 01:06:07 PM

Quote from: "jaybee"Cut the siding with the knife, kick through the styrofoam sheathing and interior drywall, you're in!

Good thing my house was built in 1955. Once they get through the Vinyl siding, there is asbestos siding underneath, then Oak lathe and hard plaster on the inside. I suppose they could get through it, but its gonna' take 'em a while.

enjenjo · December 05, 2004, 01:54:54 PM

QuoteCut the siding with the knife, kick through the styrofoam sheathing and interior drywall, you're in!

Have fun

My house was built in 1923, it has cedar siding, under that is 3/4" D&M pine siding. on the inside there is more D&M siding with lock grooves cut for the plaster to key into. even the interior walls are made that way, I can hang a picture anywhere

There were some burglaries here where they cut through the wall with a chain saw when I was building my shop, so the walls had the studs drilled, and no 4 rebar laced though them every 12" all around the shop. the only place they could cut through is the doors, and they face the house.

Of course if they are determined, they can find a way in.