On Oct 3, 2008, at 17:15 , Paul Stenquist commiserated:
Joe,
My condolences. I will watch for these items.. I hope your
homeowner's insurance will cover your loss.
Paul
It will cover it (after $500 deductible) but it seems only after I
present them with a receipt for the replacement items I buy. In some
cases (the 15mm and the 135mm 35mm lenses, that could take me more
than a year to find one. And I'd have to keep a slush fund in the bank
to purchase anything if and when I find it. Seems ridiculous, but I
guess they don't want you pocketing the money and buying new digital
gear.
The last time I had this kind of thing happen to me (1989) my
insurance company sent me to a local camera store and they just gave
me whatever versions of Pentax gear equaled or bettered what I had
lost. Took a couple of days. Not all bad. Lost an MX, replaced with a
PZ-1. Lost an old f6.3 stovepipe 600, replaced with a Tamron AF 300mm
f2.8 and a 2x converter. The computer equipment, however, was replaced
with cash - but no data. Total value was over $13,000 new.
Fingerprints I found and forced the cops to run resulted in an arrest
and conviction about 8 months later. Guy only got 18 months, time off
for good behavior. Usually the cops are not excited about the process
of actually trying to find these guys. In fact, I'm sure they know who
they are. Just too lazy to try to get the evidence needed for a
conviction. I am going to present them with the ashtray liner (chromed
steel) that was removed in an attempt to get to my CD/Radio audio unit
(worth $117 new 13 years ago) which has a prominent print on it. Maybe
that will help.
Over 20 cars have been broken into within 6 blocks of my house in the
past two weeks, a few stolen. And they know it's being done by men who
case the alleys and garages on bicycle, casually, after dark, then
come back later for the snatch & grab which is loaded into a vehicle
parked nearby and driven off.
I called all the pawn shops within 15 miles this afternoon and alerted
them. They only have to hold items they buy for 30 days, yet at times
the police are 45 to 60 days behind in updating their online databases
with what's been stolen, killing the trace that could be. Very sad.
And Paul Sorenson added:
Sorry to hear that, Joe. We have a good local store that handles a
fair amount of used equipment so I'll keep an eye out there, too.
I'm in Everett, WA, north of Seattle about 30 miles. Tomorrow I'll be
calling the local used camera dealers I can find, especially Jim's
Camera in the University District. He has a packed place with all
kinds of gear. He's also one of he guys who travels to the west coast
"camera show & swap meets." An ideal venue to get rid of gear that's
hot. I know. I used to work them with "Chuck the Peddler" and was
always suspicious of the transactions as Chuck bought equipment
offered by attendees. Usually legit, but when a person would let their
mint ETRsi kit with 4 lenses go for $600, you wondered.
I understand your pain...I had a similar incident about 20 years
ago. Fortunately my camera equipment was recovered, but I lost a
bunch of tools, clothing and camping equipment. They caught the
perps, one of whom was the son of a local small town police
chief...I never heard if they were ever prosecuted.
-p
HA! My ex and I left our home in Fredericksburg Virginia in the care
of the Police Chiefs daughter while we visited the Seattle area in the
mid 80's. When we returned, the neighbors told us tales of the all
night parties and all the loud motorcycles in the quiet suburban
community. No one ever called the cops, though they knew we were away.
The interior of the house was pretty trashed, all the frozen meat in
the chest freezer had been eaten or left out to spoil, the oven was
full of spilled burnt food, and I was finding our silver service and
other household valuables at several of the local pawn shops AND
jewelry stores! Nothing was ever done about it legally, though the
chief told us she was being punished in some way. My lawyer told me to
not bother. Collect the insurance and move on.
Joseph McAllister
Pentaxian
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
