Someone stole my junk!

[Macs]

For the last few years i have stored my junk frames and parts on one side of my house. Nobody ever goes to that side and it is behind a fence snuggled right next to the A/C unit...... Kinda like my own little pig pen.

Sunday evening i got a phone call from a friend of mine who badly tweaked his frame during a ahrma event. I knew that i had one and told him i could swing it by on my way to work tuesday morning. This morning i went to grab the frame and the whole junk pile is missing. There was probly 20 frames, swingers, forks, engine cases, wheels and just a whole bunch of misc junk. Most everything was broke, bent etc but i am to cheap and lazy to haul it off.

Someone had to go through alot of effort to get this stuff. All three gates were padlocked..... So, the thief had to lift all of this useless junk over the fence and then drag it to wherever. Nothing was really lite and there was alot of it!

I am not sure if i should be happy or pissed? This scum saved me a bunch of work but asshole broke into my stuff.

I know this wasnt anyone i knew!

[Big Mike]

Thats been happening around here lately too. Recently, when i wasnt home someone came to my door and asked my girlfriend if I wanted to sell some of my scrap, and listed off a bunch of stuff that you cannot see from the street so that means the shitheads were in my yard, because they knew what I had. My girl told em to beat it and not come back. Then 3 days later they were caught stealing scrap from someone else's yard.

[rodeofan5656]

i would be p***ed! im sure you spent plentya of money, time, and effort to get that pile goin! let us know what you find out! hope you get your stuff

[KgoX]

thats still irritating that it happened...It sounds like If the dirt bag had just asked if he could have it you would have let him take it but instead he risked getting arrested instead...what a moron.

[jays375]

With scrap prices so high it is easy money for scumbags without jobs to turn a quick buck.It happens all the time where I live.Scarier thing is stuff is getting stolen period.Houses are being broken into all the time.

[atc007]

A cpl years back. They broke into cabin in a VERY remote area. Gutted the ENTIRE home. lock ,stock and barrel. ALL the copper pipe,wiring etc... Amazing how much WORK a thief is willing to go to.

[rdlsz24]

Scumbags! What kind of fence do you have? We put up a 6-foot privacy fence around our back yard. Makes it really hard to get it or even see in.

Rob

[brapp]

i hear asbout cabins broken into all the time around here. its freakin rediclious, i ahve deer cams, and baby monitors to protect my toys cheap security.

[Dirtcrasher]

It's been bad around here, many unoccupied homes broken into and all the copper stolen. If the bank doesn't plow the driveway, it's a dead giveaway so just short sale the house! I have probably heard of 30 - 50 homes within a few mile radius that were broken into in the past couple years; People are desperate!

[ktm one]

Some idiots around here are one step ahead of the normal opportunistic thieves. They waited untill the highway dpw cashed in their scrap pile and then stole the cash (coffee $ for the year). Whomever it was wasn't able to run an acy/oxy torch and caught the building on fire while trying to heat up the lock on the safe. This building housed all of the town's equipment.

[jays375]

I really hate hearing this stuff.Just heard a house nearby was broken into and all the copper pipe was stolen.This is a very big house that is unoccupied.Around me it is mostly drugged out kids looking for a fix.You wouldn't believe how many of them steal guns and go to the closest gun shop to sell them.They know they are going to get caught.Don't care because they only get a slap on the wrist.The gun owner pays the price.Because the gun is kept for evidence until the scumbag is off probation.By then the gun is usually junk because they are all rusted up.It is becoming a world you can't trust anybody.

[just ben]

i hear asbout cabins broken into all the time around here. its freakin rediclious, i ahve deer cams, and baby monitors to protect my toys cheap security. you probably are pretty safe out there but if someone had balls enough you would probably find there vehicle stuck in your driveway lol.

[badass350x]

Hate too here this kind of thing!! when I was a kid back in the 80's My father bought me and my brother a new yamaha tri-moto an atc 110 they where locked up on the back porch too a support beam with a huge chain and lock as well as the gate too the alley! make a long story short we had a watch dog that was very protective of the yard and we had nothing too worry about, WRONG!!! What they did was take a skippy dogfood can and put holes in it with what looked too be a Ice pick angled them downward and leaving a little food in the bottom then throwing it over the gate,,, well of course the dog wanted the food so yeah the can was stuck on his snout in the morning! they froze the locks hit them with a hammer and took both of them!!!! GO FIGURE...

[beets442]

I hate thieves....
i hear asbout cabins broken into all the time around here. its freakin rediclious, i ahve deer cams, and baby monitors to protect my toys cheap security. Had my cabin busted into in the early 90's. Broke my couch,fridge,kitchen destroyed, took a few guns. Left a note that said"Tanks for everything". Cost me $2000 to replace.Have a computer monitor now with lots of cams.

[Macs]

i have a 6' privacy fence around the whole yard. The gates are padlocked ( Due to a mentally challenged neihborhood kid).
I would have gladly gave this stuff to anyone that would of asked.... It just amazes me that they would go through all that hard work for just a couple of dollars.

What is really interesting is that i have all my rare high dollar stuff in my storage shed which was unlocked. They could have easily taken it if they had just a little bit of sense. I have now pad locked the storage shed.

[BiggDogg]

not to make light on the theft, but are you married? if so ask, your wife, maybe she got sick of seeing it in the yard. Lol

But seriously, do you have close neighbors? maybe they saw somebody dicking around or a truck

[sledcrazyinCT]

My great aunt inherited a huge resort house with 30 plus rooms, she is in here 90s and lives in a little cape across town and doesn't drive anymore. Some druggies decided it was safe to break in and rip off all the copper. MFers pulled all the copper including the one feeding the furnace heating oil. The tank was almost full and these losers did not even shut off the valve to keep it from leaking out of the tank. So in addition to the house being vandalized she got screwed by the DEP for the oil contamination. Sad thing is it was probably a niece of hers that is hooked up with some local losers so they can get their bags of heroine. Who ever did it knew they would have had no one walking in on them during the middle of it.

Lots of seasonal lake houses got ripped off a few years back when the copper was going for $3.80 a pound

[riverrat]

i have a 6' privacy fence around the whole yard. The gates are padlocked ( Due to a mentally challenged neihborhood kid).
I would have gladly gave this stuff to anyone that would of asked.... It just amazes me that they would go through all that hard work for just a couple of dollars.

What is really interesting is that i have all my rare high dollar stuff in my storage shed which was unlocked. They could have easily taken it if they had just a little bit of sense. I have now pad locked the storage shed.


Dude, steel is $.09 a pound, it adds up quick. I was shocked to find this out. Last time I thought I would scrap, this huge boiler I removed from someone's house (it was like 1500lbs) I got $10. The other day I brought a 40gallon water heater to a local scrap yard that just opened up, and I got $10. I never bothered scraping steel because I had to drive too far and it would cost me more in gas to get there. I am a HVAC plumber by trade and throw out steel almost daily, now I am going to scrap it all, I used to do just copper.

My helper who is 16, him and his friend are going all over the place finding steel and scraping it. They even went into the woods and found some abandon cars and are cutting them up and bringing them out in pieces with a quad and a trailer.

[sweetip2000]

Sounds to me like this person who did this is a crack head dope fiend. Only a coke head would jones so hard to haul all that weight, I hope they get more than what they bargained for.

[Dirtcrasher]

Dude, steel is $.09 a pound, it adds up quick. I was shocked to find this out. Last time I thought I would scrap, this huge boiler I removed from someone's house (it was like 1500lbs) I got $10. The other day I brought a 40gallon water heater to a local scrap yard that just opened up, and I got $10. I never bothered scraping steel because I had to drive too far and it would cost me more in gas to get there. I am a HVAC plumber by trade and throw out steel almost daily, now I am going to scrap it all, I used to do just copper.

My helper who is 16, him and his friend are going all over the place finding steel and scraping it. They even went into the woods and found some abandon cars and are cutting them up and bringing them out in pieces with a quad and a trailer.

When scrap was high, I'd have the crane drop a whole RTU off the malls roof and into my box truck; After I cut up and sorted the condenser, evaporator and copper. It was always a 3-400$ score......

[JasonB]

this is all terrible! SOrry to hear that, even though you dont want the stuff it still sucks that someone basically violated your privacy and helped themselves to your things. Sorry man!

[Macs]

Mystery Solved!! Thieves caught last night.

Last night i got a knock on my door about 11:00. It was my neighbor from the end of the street ( He is a pilot and always gone, so i dont know him that well). He said that he just caught two teenagers stealing an aluminum jon boat from his back yard and the police had apprehended them down at his house. He had heard about my stuff walking off and thought there might be a connection.

So i stroll down to where the cops are and instantly recognize one of the teenagers. It was the son of our yard guy ( We have used the same guy for about 10 years and he also does my neighbors). Without saying a word to the kids or the police, i called his dad and explained what was going on. He was there in about 5 minutes.

We had a long discussion between all of us present. The kids confessed that they had taken my stuff, confessed about the jon boat etc etc ( these boys were scared to death). His dad explained that his son has just recently got addicted to drugs after his mom left and he is unsure how to handle it.
With some more in depth discussions ( remember, i have known this kid since he was 5-6 years old). We both decided not to press charges if the kid was to seek help. Everyone agreed and shook hands.
This morning i got a call from the son. He wanted to apologize and thank me for not pressing charges. He went on to say how he has been addicted to heroin for the last 6 months and maybe getting busted was the best thing for him. Today he is going to be admitted to the Byshore Detox Center and then go from there.

hopefully this works out for the kid and he gets better.

[the 80s rule]

I had someone help them self to an old Yamaha 125 frame and engine. Later I heard from a Neighbor they also got his aluminum boat from near his pond. I don't ever expect to hear the who or why so I guess your "lucky" in that regard.

[atc350xer]

Mystery Solved!! Thieves caught last night.

Last night i got a knock on my door about 11:00. It was my neighbor from the end of the street ( He is a pilot and always gone, so i dont know him that well). He said that he just caught two teenagers stealing an aluminum jon boat from his back yard and the police had apprehended them down at his house. He had heard about my stuff walking off and thought there might be a connection.

So i stroll down to where the cops are and instantly recognize one of the teenagers. It was the son of our yard guy ( We have used the same guy for about 10 years and he also does my neighbors). Without saying a word to the kids or the police, i called his dad and explained what was going on. He was there in about 5 minutes.

We had a long discussion between all of us present. The kids confessed that they had taken my stuff, confessed about the jon boat etc etc ( these boys were scared to death). His dad explained that his son has just recently got addicted to drugs after his mom left and he is unsure how to handle it.
With some more in depth discussions ( remember, i have known this kid since he was 5-6 years old). We both decided not to press charges if the kid was to seek help. Everyone agreed and shook hands.
This morning i got a call from the son. He wanted to apologize and thank me for not pressing charges. He went on to say how he has been addicted to heroin for the last 6 months and maybe getting busted was the best thing for him. Today he is going to be admitted to the Byshore Detox Center and then go from there.

hopefully this works out for the kid and he gets better.
Sounds like your junk being stolen may have saved a life... normally with a thief, I'd be ready to lock 'em up and throw away the key, but good call on the final decision.

[sledcrazyinCT]

The father and son are lucky to have you be so understanding. drugs and teens not a good combo, hopefully he can clean up and avoid doing drugs because of you. Locking him up might make the problem worse, glad he is gonna go to rehab!

[Macs]

Sounds like your junk being stolen may have saved a life... normally with a thief, I'd be ready to lock 'em up and throw away the key, but good call on the final decision.

I had to do quite a bit of fast talking to get the police and neighbor on my side, but I have been in his shoes before and it took someone giving me a break to get my life together. Maybe this is the break he needed.

[BiggDogg]

That was Noble of you, I wouldn't have handled it that way, I'm too angry just reading someone stole your Sh!t.
Did you get it all back??????

[fabiodriven]

A junkie's a junkie. He'll be back.

[Macs]

I usaully handle things like this quite differently. But i have known his family for sometime, so of course that played a huge part in it.

Stuff back? I dont want that junk back!

[Macs]

I hope you are wrong Fabio.... If there is a next time, the police will be the least of his problems.

[WIkid500]

I'm going say hopefully this kid gets his head screwed on strait and realizes the kind of break you cut him in his life. Cool thing that you did Macs, and at least it wasn't a prized possession gone missing.

[Dirtcrasher]

Usually once people get on the "H", good luck to them. Makes them steal from there own mother.....

Awesome effort by you MACS with his dad, maybe he can get his act together.

Take the world one problem at a time; I hope he can kick his habit!

[jays375]

You should have pressed charges.He will be back and next time it will be bigger items.Sad thing is alot of kids are the same way these days.There is just so many of theme hooked on the hard drugs.They will do anything they can to score.This sounds just like a kid I know.He ripped off most of his family first.They didn't do anything to him.So next he moved on to the neighbors.The kid has spent more time in jail then out since being out of school.In fact he is there right now after ripping a neighbor off back before Christmas.Now the guy who turned him is in trouble too.The cop was pissed when he found out the kid stole a gun from him previously.He didn't press charges on that incident.Guess the cop is trying to do something about it now.You better install a security system and lock your stuff real good.Not the same kid you used to know.

[plastikosmd]

Cynical here also but I hope he turns it around

[Macs]

You should have pressed charges.He will be back and next time it will be bigger items.Sad thing is alot of kids are the same way these days.There is just so many of theme hooked on the hard drugs.They will do anything they can to score.This sounds just like a kid I know.He ripped off most of his family first.They didn't do anything to him.So next he moved on to the neighbors.The kid has spent more time in jail then out since being out of school.In fact he is there right now after ripping a neighbor off back before Christmas.Now the guy who turned him is in trouble too.The cop was pissed when he found out the kid stole a gun from him previously.He didn't press charges on that incident.Guess the cop is trying to do something about it now.You better install a security system and lock your stuff real good.Not the same kid you used to know.

I think pressing charges on him would have made things worse. This is an after thought from reading your response and none of this cross my mind at the moment.

If i would have pressed charges, he would have gotten a slap on the wrist since he is a minor. He would then realize that the consequences for his actions are low. This most likely would lead to worse things.
The kid was scared to death! I really think that he thought he was going to prison for the rest of his life. I would rather leave that thought in his head.

[Macs]

Would anybody be interested in updates on how this kid is doing?

[hublake]

I think you did the right thing. The ball is now in his court and it is up to him to take advantage of the chance. Hopefully he will get some help and realize what you did for him. I know addiction to drugs can be a difficult thing to overcome. We have lost a son to herion(he was 35) and our daughter has had her share of problems with drugs. She is doing ok now but you never know when she will relapse. We currently have custody of her 13 month old son. The young man will need ALL the help he can get. Getting over his problem will take a long time.

[deathman53]

unfortunity my brother is big time drug addict. He started doing petty crap and getting away w/ it. He stole from me, mom and dad. Denied it of course, until he was caught. He got arrested several times and was the same thing "scared as hell", he served a month or so in county, he went back to drugs not soon after, more rehabs, more of dad bailing him out of trouble he keeps going back. He got back into herion and drinking, did everything to scam, steal and rip us off for money for drugs. Dad died, more crap happened, in the end he was kicked out to the street. He got arrested more times, he jumped probation and stole twice, never manned to the charges. He got locked up again, was in jail about 2 weeks, got beat up several times, the "train" atleast twice and then got released. He is still the same scum, who lies, cheats and steals from anybody he can. He is just smarter now to stay away from the law, at all costs. Bottom line: if that kid is 18, that father should kick his kid out, make him live on the street, starve, get beaten up, mugged and suffer. He needs to hit "rock bottom", that is when you have nothing in your life, no belongings, family doesn't want you around, no friends, no where to live and really suffered. THAT IS WHEN THE KID WILL KICK THE DRUGS. Hate to be brutality honest about it and some will not like me for this, but if you live/lived, experienced the family effects and been screwed by people like this you will agree with me. NO rehab will help you if you don't want to change and you won't, you just learn to hide it better from others. I say to people who think rehab will change their loved ones: wake up and smell the foul crap, step in it several times and keep it around w/ you, the situation isn't gonna change.

[threewheelin-feelin]

i love how they can do all these work to steal somebody hard earned stuff..but can go work a job and buy it them selves makes no sence

[Dirtcrasher]

^ True enough. Someone wanting a drug will go through jumps/hurdles and put themselves in harms way.

Others put that effort into their job and it pays off or they learn enough to move on and be welcomed somewhere else.

The problem is that none of this new generation is just smoking some weed and kicking back a few brews. There all going hardcore and then they start stealing just to support there habit. That bag of green people use to get that lasted a week or more is now a different drug that needs to be replenished daily or they get sick. Some parts of the country are worse than others; You never know what your getting into when you park your vehicle somewhere!

Crap, the girl who sold me a bracelet at the main yearly trike event (which I won't mention), had an ANKLE BRACELET!! What the heck did she do?? Yes, I'm just assuming but I think many of us can agree that the majority of country has gone to crap!; And in many more ways than just this one......

[riverrat]

Mighty fine of you to let him go, I hope it works out for the kid.


This is all Obama's fault.

[sledcrazyinCT]

Would anybody be interested in updates on how this kid is doing?

Please keep us updated on how the kid is doing!