Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with theft

Are locker keys magical?

amicamentis — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:53:01 -0800

Can one make a copy of a public locker key? Inspired by this question last week, I started thinking about good places to steal bags from. An obvious place was from the luggage lockers at train terminals. It seems like a thief could put in some money, get the key, make a copy (if he had a complicit locksmith buddy), and then wait for someone to use the locker after him. He waits for this guy to leave and then uses the fake key to open the locker.

Is this uncommon only because locker keys are somehow uncopyable? Does it have something to do with the orange blocky thing at the end? Is it because it's under surveillance and too risky? Is there not enough of a payoff?

I know some museums that won't allow you to take in backpacks and instead provide lockers; these seem like easy targets for finding tourists' bags with cameras or wallets.

Thanks for any help!

Why isn't there more theft at airport baggage claims?

lunchbox — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:31:34 -0800

Why isn't there more theft at airport baggage claims? At most airports I've been to, the baggage claims are openly accessible from the outside, and no verification/authentication is necessary to walk in the door, grab a suitcase from the conveyor belt, and walk right out. (I know some airports require people to show baggage check receipts, but most I've been to haven't.) What's more, valuable suitcases often sit around for long periods of time without being claimed, leaving thieves plenty of time. How does this baggage-claim system not implode from epidemic theft?

The ethics of buying stolen bikes

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:05:06 -0800

Help me figure out the ethics of buying stolen bikes (or other stolen things). I've always believed that buying a stolen bike was the worst of sins--along the lines of stealing books from the public library or pushing your grandma down the stairs. And living in the Bay Area, my friends' bikes get stolen all the time, even if they ride theft-proof junkers, so I can genuinely empathize with the experience of losing a prized possession. But as an often-broke cyclist (who rides one of those aforementioned junkers), occasionally I'm equally tempted by those lightweight newish bikes that're providentially cheap and don't need the rear derailleur replaced, and then the front derailleur replaced, and then suddenly the hub feels crunchy and the rear brakes never have quite the right tension on 'em, etc.

There's a Saturday flea market near my house where I buy cheap wool socks and used cell phone chargers sometimes. One full corner of the market has a booming trade in obviously stolen bikes--shiny, new road bikes priced at $100-200, but almost certainly worth at least double, for example. I've been able to resist the temptation for a decade now, and my maybe-too-righteous moral stance still feels solid to me (occasionally dreaming of a bike and actually buying one are two different things!). But sometimes I think, oh why bother? There'll always be an underground economy for stolen, priced-to-move bikes: the allure's too great, and there seems to be basically no chance of getting caught. Why shouldn't I buy a stolen bike? There's no way the real owner will find it before it's gone, whether I'm the purchaser or not. Right?

For me, the biggest flaw in the "someone's gonna buy it, why not me?" argument is my own integrity: I don't want to be the kind of person who, unblinkingly, buys stolen goods. (I'm not.) But on the other hand, why should I avoid buying a locally-stolen bike but feel guilt-free about purchasing sweatshop-made socks, for example, just because I can empathize more readily with one than the other? Or avoid buying a used circular saw that might also be stolen, but might not?... To clarify, I'm not looking for help justifying anything to myself; I know it's not okay for me, regardless of how ineffectual my stolen-stuff boycott actually is. I'm just trying to put words to the sense that there's something more to this than just personal integrity (or the law). But what?

Make our house a fortress.

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:39:30 -0800

Our house was broken into yesterday. I'd like to prevent this from happening again. Yesterday, sometime between the hours of 8 AM and 6 PM, our house was broken into. There is a small window on the front of the house that opens into the master bedroom. It's one of these windows with the hinges on the bottom and it folds inward, into the house. It's secured from the inside with only a shim (a piece of wood wedged between the window and the frame). The burglar moved the porch furniture away from the window and must have tried to push the window in, but because of the resistance from the shim, the window just completely shattered. This must have caused the burglar to flee, because nothing (as it appears) was taken. The sound of the breaking glass plus the whole broad daylight in a family neighborhood thing must have sent him running.

The whole thing has gotten me and my partner pretty shook up. It was, after all, the window right above our bed - and the glass destroyed one of our aloe plants (so sad). I know that if someone wants in bad enough, they can figure out a way in - but I'd like to thwart at least the feeble attempts.

What kinds of things can we do to secure our house? There are obvious things: we don't have latches or screens on our windows, as most of our windows are out of reach, so we are going to do that - but that won't stop someone from just breaking the window. We're not really well-off enough to afford a full-fledged alarm system, so we're trying to try all the other, sort of DIY, creative avenues first, if we can.

What sorts of things do you do to make your house safe and secure? What are some unconventional things we could do? Cacti in the windows? Motion detectors? Trip wires? Other resources you can direct us to?

If it makes any difference, we live in Northeast Portland, Oregon. We don't own the house - we rent it from someone who currently lives in Europe. It's possible he would pay for a comprehensive alarm system, but that won't happen anytime in the very near future.

Laptop Stolen. Options?

bokane — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:28:46 -0800

My younger brother was forced to check his laptop on an American Airlines flight out of Dallas/Fort Worth. You can probably see what's coming, but... The backpack his laptop was in never made it to Philadelphia, or at least never made it to him. It's been six days now, and he wants it back -- he's got years of schoolwork on it.

Has anyone had similar shitty experiences? Will AA compensate him for the full value of the laptop? Is it worth trying to file a police report? Is AA and/or Dallas/Fort Worth particularly bad for this sort of thing?

Nothing of value was taken.... or was it?

twiggy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:23:41 -0800

Why would someone break into a bunch of cars but ignore valuables only to rifle through paperwork? Last weekend, my car was broken into (well, it's possible I may have left it unlocked, though that's a very RARE thing for me). No windows were broken, though, so I either left it unlocked, or they used a slim jim.

A few interesting things:

1) I park in a gated lot behind my building, so someone had to hop the fence to get in.
2) Nothing of value was really present in my car, but not even what few things of value I did have were taken (a few CDs, a phone charger, etc)...
3) Whoever it was rifled through my glove box, my console and took out my (unused) ash tray, and left all of them open. My car is pretty messy, so they could've easily made it look like they were never there with about 10 seconds effort.

I thought nothing of this at first. I figured they didnt' find anything of sufficient value and moved on, and while it bothered me that my stuff was rifled through, I figured there was no sense worrying about it.

However, I'm on an email list for my local neighborhood, and just got an email noting that this same thing has happened to several other cars in the past week in their area - just a few blocks from where I'm at.

So - why would someone do this? My first thought was ID theft, but I don't think getting my auto insurance card is going to do you a whole lot of good. My social security number shouldn't be on there. It's also not on my license, but I keep my license with me at all times anyway, it wouldn't be in my car.

Has this happened to anyone else? Have you ever figured out what it was the thieves were after?

Stolen macbook - hard drive data safe?

shivohum — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:58:54 -0800

Someone stole my 2009 macbook pro. I doubt they can guess my password. Given that, how likely is it that they can access my hard drive's data (I didn't do anything special beyond the default to encrypt it or anything)? Can my Applecare plan transfer to a new laptop? Anything else I can do to help destroy the value of the computer? I don't need any advice about police reports, etc. - but Apple-specific advice welcome.

How can I help a friend whose partner has been arrested?

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:50:52 -0800

Help me comfort a friend whose partner was just arrested for the local equivalent of grand theft. Friend A's partner B was just arrested for stealing at least $20k worth of goods from work over a few years.

Yesterday, A returned home to their apartment that had been searched under a warrant and has had her possessions seized. There are also potential legal implications for her.

A was initially under the impression that B had merely been buying said goods at a discounted staff rate and selling them on at a profit but has just found out that he had actually stolen them. He admitted that this began a year ago and essentially had kept it from her despite her constant warnings that the buying-at-discount-selling-at-profit might get him (and her) into trouble.

She is complete wreck because she has to deal with the tenancy agreements and other related issues but right now the last straw is the dishonesty on his part. She feels obligated to support him through this terrible time (he is scared and is really just a nice guy who made a series of stupid mistakes and in the course of their relationship treated her like a princess) but is also naturally angry with him and unsure about the relationship.

3 Questions:
- What should she do? (I expect the answers won't be conclusive)
- How can I comfort her?
- How can I comfort him, given that he has become a friend through her?

Not looking for any legal advice, there are already lawyers involved.

Is there still honor among theives?

snapped — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:06:36 -0800

A coworker was robbed this week, and a box of very sentimental items was taken. Can anyone offer some advice for possibly having them returned or found? I am not particularly close to this coworker, and don't know all of the details, but here are the relevant ones:

-She lost her husband unexpectedly, about a year ago. She has a ten-year-old son and three-year-old daughter.

-She was getting an alarm installed in her home last week and somehow the installers "could not finish." She was suddenly robbed the next day or day following. Of course, many people I work with suspect the alarm installers are somehow involved, but I don't know much more of the details regarding suspects, etc. I have never really heard of such a scam before, but I'm sure it's not impossible.

-The saddest part of this story is that, among other valuable (and easy to resell/pawn) items stolen, a "memory box" that her son was keeping was taken. It contained jewelry and other items belonging to the boy's deceased father. Obviously this young man is crushed, to the point of his mother considering sending him to therapy to deal with this second, and once again unexpected, loss.

Now, maybe I'm just being naive, but I can't help but feeling that if the thieves understood the situation, they would return the memory box. I'm sure my coworker would feel the same way - I haven't spoken to her much directly because she is so upset about it, and as I said I'm not particularly close to her.

Can anyone think of a way to try and reach out to the parties responsible and let them know that they stole something of immense emotional importance to this young man (and his young sister, who I'm sure will be devastated to learn this happened once she is old enough)? I've heard great stories of these kind of things on the web, but they involved objects like laptops or other "trackable" items.

I know this is pretty desperate, and I've already planned to reach out to my church and other coworkers to try and give these kids something to restore their faith in the kindness of people around them. I have a Nintendo Wii, for instance, that I want to donate to them. But I realize that means almost nothing if they can't move on from losing these memories of their dad. Any suggestions you can offer me would be appreciated.

Is my identity being stolen?

sesquipedalia — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:58:51 -0800

Is this odd cell phone phishing or normal wrong number? Just got a call on my cell from a number I didn't recognize, and picked it up on the chance it was something real. The person at the other end asked for me (by first name only, I think) and said "this is so-and-so with IslandOne" and waited expectantly. I had no idea what that was and said so.

She seemed nonplussed and said that this must be a wrong number, then made as if to hang up. I said "you knew my name, so this might not be a wrong number; what is this in relation to?" She (still seemingly nonplussed) said something absurd like "car wash" and hung up.

I Googled IslandOne and found a resort company in Florida, the same area code as the mystery call. However, a reverse lookup indicates the number is a cell, which seems odd to use for official business.

I tried calling the number back (from a work phone, which is a different area code from mine altogether) and it goes right to a generic voicemailbox. Also very odd.

So now some random person in Florida knows my (first at least) name and cell number. Could this call have been some odd means of phishing for this info before using this for some kind of identity theft thing? Or might the person be legit and someone with my first name is trying to do business with them using my cell number? If so, why would this person be so strange on the phone when it was clear the I wasn't the person who gave them the number?

What do you think I can/should do to figure out what's going on here? Any precautionary measures perhaps?

I won't include the number in the message lest the owner Google on it, but if it helps I can provide it via mail or something.

Thanks for helping to resolve this weirdness!

Identity Theft Sure Does Suck.

mockjovial — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:51:26 -0800

Help me help my fiancé recover from identity theft. (Please?) ....question about identify theft....sorry for the somewhat lengthy setup. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Backstory:
I am getting married next year in June (yay!) As my wife to be and I have moved ahead with planning for the big event, we also have been seriously considering the purchase of a home.
We are both in our mid 20s and live in Chicagoland. I have finished college and am employed full time in a relatively stable industry. She works part time and is a full time graduate student.

We both checked our credit reports this week to be sure that everything was in order. Thankfully, mine came back just fine without any errors or problems.

...not so much for the fiancé.
We were shocked and horrified to discover last night that over 20 accounts she was not aware of and did not open were listed on her report. In all, just over $10,000 in charges between various retail stores, and a credit card or two.

To make matters worse, almost all of them are now listed as 'charged off' / 'in collections', and various collections firms also show up on her report.

Oddly, the entire history of 'bad stuff' goes back about 3 years, but she has not received one call from a collector or received any odd bills in the mail, even though her correct contact information is listed on the credit report.

She is extremely responsible with her finances and always pays her bills on time. There are 4 accounts 'in good standing' that we know to actually be hers.

We have only seen 2 out of 3 reports so far, because we were not able to gain access to the third one online. For the third report (Transunion), we aren't able to get past the identity verification step because it asks for the last 4 digits of certain account numbers, but the accounts they are asking about are ones she didn't open, so she doesn't know the numbers and therefore can't verify her identity. (Unfortunately, the account numbers are not listed on the other 2 reports.) We will be calling Transunion to get that third report.

We immediately contacted Equifax and had them add a fraud flag to her report. They will then contact Transunion and Experian on our behalf to get flags set up with them too. Hopefully that will begin to stop the bleeding by preventing most types of new accounts from being opened. What it will not do is stop currently open accounts from being used, so that needs to be addressed next.

This FTC: website has been very helpful so far.

We will be getting copies of the credit reports, identifying the fraudulent accounts, filing a complaint with the FTC, filing a police report, and then using the form letters on the site to request the account information / application information from the various retailers/credit card companies with the questionable accounts. From there, we can provide our police report and documentation to the security/fraud departments of the various retailers and credit card companies to get the accounts closed. We can then send our Identity Theft Report to the credit reporting agencies to try to get the items removed. Hopefully.

Thankfully, my credit report is just fine and my FICO score is in the top possible bracket....on my own, with MY income and OUR down payment, I should not have a problem qualifying for the mortgage we need. I should be able to move forward with the home buying process using only my name and credit while we work on getting this disaster cleaned up, so all is not lost.

Questions:
I know that YANML, et. al.....just looking for some opinions. Here is what I'd love to know:

- Has this happened to you or anyone you know? What was the process of fixing the mess really like? How long did it take? Any advice? Is this too big of a problem to realistically tackle ourselves, and if so, are there any firms you know of that can help?

- Should I only be contacting the original retailer(s) about the fraud? (Meaning ignore the collectors). I know from previous questions here how evil they can be.

- When we get married, can I be held responsible for any of this fraudulent debt if for some reason it is not resolved through the above process? Will my own credit be damaged? How can I avoid being held accountable for it if it comes to that?

- When we placed the credit flag last night, Equifax immediately tried to sell us their credit monitoring service for $14/month. That felt slimy. Does anyone have any experience with it? Is it worth it?

- Is there anything else I should be asking?

Thanks for humoring me. I think I used up my questing asking privileges for like 6 months with this one.

Insurance is good and I'd like to keep it.

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:18:39 -0800

Is filing too many claims always a death knell for your insurance? Our neigborhood has been going through a crime wave that is rather unprecented and ongoing. We've been broken into twice in the last three years and filed claims both times. The claim for both adds up to around $6,000. Great.

Then some schuck injured himself on a used tool he bought from us on Craiglist. Insurance company provided a lawyer who says "they have no case, surprised they had the balls to try and file this."

Yet, of course, we all still have to go through the requisite motions. We have been with this insurance company for home and auto for 10 years or so, but everything online I've read indicates that they are about to drop us like a hot potato. Do individual agents have the ability to protect us from whatever algorithm wants to dump us? Can we raise our deductibles, add some coverage something to get us some leverage?

Anyone have any experience with this? What did you do? What insurance company did you find to take your high risk butt?

Bringing Big Brother closer to home.

kaibutsu — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:38:14 -0800

I'm curious about 'trojan' software for tracking a computer after it's been stolen. Human Interest Part: A very cool local bike co-op recently had a bunch of equipment stolen, including an old computer. This got me to thinking about the possibility of tracking a computer after it's been nicked.

Technical Part: So I'm thinking it should be possible (and even easy) to write a script such that a machine transmits it's IP address and a bit of identifying data to a trusted source when it connects to the net and every ten minutes or so thereafter. On the other end, another machine is set up to receive said data. This could potentially be either a pair of personal computers that are stored in separate locations, or a central server at Google or something that everyone uses. Presumably, the IP address could then be used to obtain a physical location for the missing computer, should it ever be stolen.

Questions: Does it exist already? And if not, I'm curious about the feasibility of this as a project. The weak link that I have little real knowledge of is how accurately one can turn an IP address into a physical location. Any thoughts?

FWIW, I prefer linux/*nix-friendly answers, though hearing about existing software for Windows wouldn't put me off.

I also fully understand how creepy this software would be on a personal computer; I ask mainly for the purposes of an organization that would be trying to track a usually-stationary computer.

They got the robbers. Now what?

kristymcj — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:27:13 -0800

They got the guys who robbed us. They were arrested but have posted bond and are awaiting trial (I guess). What happens now on my end? They stole a phone and used it (sheesh!). The detective ran all the names called against his records and a few popped up as having records. He checked those names against pawn shop records and found one who pawned our stuff. We have video of them selling out stuff at the pawn shop. One's our next-door neighbor's (with whom we're friendly) son. They kicked him out of the house.
The detective said it's impossible to get a search warrant this far (three weeks) after a crime cause the stuff's usually gone, but that he's gonna go by my neighbor's place tomorrow and ask his parents if he can look around the place for our stuff.

What is the purpose of these mirrors behind the customer, about waist-level, in checkout lanes?

meowzilla — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:25:11 -0800

What is the purpose of these mirrors behind the customer, about waist-level, in checkout lanes? They seem to be set up so that the cashier can get a good look at my butt - which I doubt is their true purpose. I've noticed that in two completely separate stores, there are large mirrors facing the cashier behind the customer, about waist-level or below. These are on every checkout lane, so there has to be a good reason for it (it costs money to put these up and replace them). I asked the cashier about them and she had no idea what these were for. I can't imagine what view they're supposed to give the cashier.

Is it possible they're for security? Both stores I noticed these are in slightly-bad neighborhoods, the ones where security guards stand around near the exit.

Do I ask about a late payment or let it go?

wexford_arts — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:27:43 -0800

My client said the cheque was in the mail two weeks ago. The cheque has not yet shown up in my mailbox. Should I ask him about it? A new client, trusted and recommended by a colleague, contacted me several months ago about a small job that never came to fruition, but he offered to pay a small fee covering my time, about $125. Fourteen days ago he said he was putting a cheque in the mail that week, but there's been nothing.

It could have been sent the following week, it may not have been sent yet at all, or it could have been sent and stolen out of my mailbox. The last possibility isn't as paranoid as you might think, as the cops have been around the neighbourhood to warn us about documented cases of mail theft in the area. My other clients all pay by direct deposit, so I've never had to worry about this issue before.

If the cheque was stolen and cashed, I'd hate to put this new client -- who really wants to work with me in the future -- in the position of paying me again. I can eat this loss. In fact, I never expected a kill fee at all: it was a pleasant surprise that he offered. On the other hand, I don't think there's anything wrong with a quick question about the payment if it turns out they were just late getting it out.

It's the small but real possibility of the client feeling obliged to pay again given the small but real chance of theft that has me hesitating. What do you recommend?

Keep my registration sticker where it belongs

oinopaponton — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:24:22 -0800

Foolproof way to prevent registration sticker theft? I recently visited some friends in the city, and at some point during the night my car's registration sticker (on my license plate) was stolen. I found a $40 ticket on my windshield the next morning for an expired registration. Fun.

The DMV's sending me a new sticker, and I'm appealing the ticket. No big deal for now, but I really don't want to have to deal with this more than once. I'll definitely be parking in this area again, and street parking is the only option. Has anyone come up with any good ways to make sure your registration sticker stays where it is? Clear packing tape? Some additional adhesive? Thanks!

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." —H. G. Wells

regicide is good for you — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:00:01 -0800

Would you be willing to trust your bike to the Abus Granit Futura mini U-lock? (Either alone or as part of some u-lock/chain combo). Anyone have experience with it? I'm tired of lugging heavy locks, and I've been told it has a good rep for what it is.

Art Gallery closes, my "friend" steals from fellow artist

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:16:15 -0800

I am an oil painter. I have a friend who is (was) a gallery owner (G). The gallery owner knew I am in touch with an esteemed oil painter (E) and arranged to have a two man show with E and another local (venerated) painter. Unbeknownst to E the G is/was in serious financial trouble. E had a gallery for a decade and had a decent reputation. Well, E's show went up and 3 paintings were sold. The other artist had 2 paintings sell. I know E trusted G largely because he felt if I was involved G is a good guy. (The "contact" type of arrangement). G's gallery has now closed and I have helped in final details as a volunteer as G has no staff. I consider G a friend..he has helped me as an artist. I consider E an A-list artist and someone to emulate. It has been over 30 days since the end of the show. Day before yesterday E emailed me a rather terse email asking if I had contact info on G. I called G and asked if I could give E the cell number. G said "sure" (but it begs the question...was G going to just disappear without giving contact info?). Yesterday I had lunch with G. He is leaving town never to open another gallery. Suddenly he said: " I don't like E bugging me! It makes me want to not pay him! He is not a nice person!" This took me aback. I said (gingerly).."well E is just like everyone else, suffering through the recession..and he has a little kid" G says "I didn't tell him to have a kid!" hmmm. I knew at that point that appealing to his humanity was going no where and that it was clear G is rationalizing away all reasons to pay E his 50% of proceeds for work that E did (and E footed a large frame bill as well). I do not have G's address although I have a vague description of where he is going (the next state). G is a very emotional person and I know he has been under a great deal of stress. At times I felt like I was one of his last remaining friends. But now this has happened and I am shocked that he would consider ripping off/stiffing E. It is likely that G simply does not have the $ to pay. This is out and out theft and I know how much E needs the $. I am heartbroken that G is not the man I thought he was. By the way, the other man in the 2 man show did get paid...possibly because G views him as a "nice" person (and/or he was still trying to hold it together...it doesn't seem like he is trying to hold it together anymore.).

E has expressed concern to me that G is going to not pay him. I now have information that confirms that. Should I alert E that he is correct about his misgivings? I have information that E doesn't have that could be helpful to him (the vague description of his G's new location).

My friend's fractal artwork was stolen from DeviantArt and is being sold as a photo backdrop by photographyprops.com. He needs helping with going about this issue, what type of lawyers handle this?

cheero — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:50:27 -0800

My friend's fractal artwork was stolen from DeviantArt and is being sold as a photo backdrop by photographyprops.com. He needs helping with going about this issue, what type of lawyers handle this? Where should he turn to next? His piece is being sold for $150 bucks and he was never contacted nor has he drawn any type of agreement with him.

Hostelling in Miami Beach, theft-free

spherical_perceptions — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:05:57 -0800

MiamiFilter: At the end of May, as part of a longer trip, I will be spending a couple of days in Miami, I will be staying at a hostel in Miami Beach. This is my first hostelling experience and I am a bit concerned about theft of my belongings since one of the hostel reviews I've read indicate there may not always be enough lockers for all the guests (I chose it for location and social aspects). I will also have to park a rental car, probably in a municipal parking garage. Is it safe to leave some clothes/stuff in the car? How big is car crime in this area? Finally, I've read various tips online about how to survive the hostel experience, but any specific tips applicable to Miami would be appreciated.

How to get rid of a new roommate who, it turns out, has a rap sheet?

UrbanEye — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:44:58 -0800

Just signed a 5 month lease with 4 roommates found on Craigslist, then found out one guy has a criminal record a mile long! How should I begin to deal with this so things don't get physically dangerous, or legally murky? I am a current tenant at an apartment which will soon have 3 new tenants on a lease, and 2 (including myself) who have been there for a month or so. The landlord wants everyone to be on a one year lease, but one tenant is moving out in mid July. So, we signed a lease that's good till July and we will need to find a replacement for the person leaving in July before signing the one year lease.

Anyway, myself and the other tenant staying on found two really cool, nice people for the apartment. Unfortunately, the landlord sort of went over our heads and gave our fifth room to someone we had shown the place to, but had not confirmed as someone we liked.

Turns out that the 5'th roommate got out of jail two months ago, (a fact learned due to alcohol). A quick check of online court records brought up a substantial list of retail theft, drug, and criminal mischief charges. We (obviously) knew nothing about this beforehand.

The 5'th roommate has also made our lone female roommate, (the other tenant staying on from before) very uncomfortable with his lewd commentary. Upon finding out she was married, he said "that must be hard, but you have guys on the side right?" *wink* *wink*

I foresee a very complicated situation developing very fast. I don't want to live with a thief and a creep, but I also don't want to try kicking out a man who's been to jail and has been charged with "resisting arrest", "simple assault", and "criminal mischief".

My landlord may or may not know how to handle this in a mature way.

How much to replace my car's meow?

infinityjinx — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:27:49 -0800

How much should it cost to replace the catalytic converter in my 94 Toyota 4Runner? Hello..so my cat was swiped in Brooklyn; I had my car towed to my mechanic in NJ and he is quoting 1125. This seems ridiculous. Does anyone have a recommendation for a mechanic in NY or NJ that will replace it for a more reasonable rate? The piece itself is only going for around a hundred bucks!

Thanks much, hive mind.

Mitigating gadget theft at work.

tehgeekmeister — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:57:49 -0800

I already bring my kindle and iphone to work. I'm considering bringing an iliad as well, and I'm worried about theft... What can I do? I already bring my kindle and iphone to work and leave them in my lunch box. I'm not really worried too much about them being stolen because only my co workers see that I bring them at all (I work at mills/other large industrial sites, so there are always lots of people who could be around anywhere). I'm about to buy an irex iliad, so that I have a device for reading math, physics, and whatnot, since my books on those are in pdf and would be mangled to death on my kindle. But, while I wasn't worried when it was just my kindle/iphone, I realize that as I add more gadgets, it's more likely people will notice and talk about it, and also a much higher cost if someone does walk off with my lunchbox. I'm just curious what everyone thinks about how likely this is, or rather how much more likely it is if I add an iliad in, and also what I might do to prevent it? Aside from just not bringing them: they are my means to study/read on breaks, and maintain my sanity. That's a must.

Cops wont return burglarized items they have recovered

Pasa la bola chetu — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:52:41 -0800

How can I get the stuff cops recovered from a burglary at my place? (in Silicon Valley, Ca) A few months ago my place was burglarized. I was able to connect to two of the stolen laptops thru the web and with the info I gathered the cops were able to recover them (tho nothing else).

Its been 5 months and the cops are still holding onto the laptops. The investigator that was so helpful during recovery no longer returns my calls. when I get him on the phone he is obviously annoyed but wont give me a date when they will be returned. He says they are part of an ongoing investigation. THe people at the police station tell me that only the investigator can authorize their release. I feel I am getting the runaround.

What are my options? The investigator was very helpful during recovery so I dont want to seem like an ingrate and go the "let me speak to your superiors" route.