ebbinger_413 0 Report post Posted January 31, 2006 this is bull...a while ago i bought a camera from a friend (mike we'll call him) for 20 bucks...mike had just bought a new camera he sold me the old one he had because he said it was apparently busted (but it wasnt, worked just fine) i have had it for about four months or so now...and i decided to bring it to school (normally i wouldnt do this because im affraid someone would steal it) but i am in photography this semester and the cameras they have us using suck (you can only take bout 6 pictures on them before they run out of memory)...so i bring it in...and get all my pictures taken for class and i am uploading them onto the computer when the tecahers walks by (well call her sarah). she picks up my camera and asks were i got it...i told her i bought it from a friend a while ago - he thought it was busted...she said oh...cause i think its stolen ! ...i was pissed...but i let her take the camera willingly because i did not want to get into trouble. i stayed after class and talked to her. she said that she could be wrong but the cameras that the school had have a thing on them to be identified...she checked my camera and said that it looked like it might have had one (that it got ripped off or sumtin) so i was like ok...well...i didnt want to get into any trouble so i let her take the camera without any arguments or anything. she told me that she filed a police report bout it and that i might have to talk to our schools leasion officers (he can be bob )...tthis sucks...so now because i bought a camera from who i thought was a friend...i might get in trouble...she kept saying she wasnt accusing me...i dont care if she was or not..because i didnt take the camera...i just dont want to get my friend in trouble...i mean...sure...he sold me stolen property...but hes been my friend for almost ten years...and im not even sure if he really stole it anyways...he might have just bought it off of someone too...idk...its all stupid...but what should i do...should i stick with my friend and not give any names or anything...or should i give names and protect myself just in case? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yordan 10 Report post Posted January 31, 2006 but what should i do...should i stick with my friend and not give any names or anything...or should i give names and protect myself just in case? You should ask your friend to talk by himself, hi should explain from where he found the camera. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted January 31, 2006 Hey wait a second.. all items sold have a SERIAL NUMBER on them - and at any point in the whole distributor-wholesaler-retailer chain there HAS TO BE A RECORD. It's like a 2 minute job for the cops to figure it out. Besides, if it was stolen from the school and it wa originally the schools property - it would have been bought by the school as a part of it's inventory - which will DEFINITELY have items listed along with their serial numbers. If your teacher claims that there WAS something on it for the school to identify it - that total BULL man. She CANNOT CLAIM any crap like that without proper proof. Any mark that the school might have put on it is NOT LEGALLY VALID - but the serial number is, if it's still there. Now if you bought a camera without a serial number on it, God help you. But if it still has the serial number, get tracking it down and then you can go back and stuff the camera up her throat and other unimaginable places for putting up accusations like this without proper proof and without thinking twice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebbinger_413 0 Report post Posted January 31, 2006 yeah m^e i realized that too when i was sittin in class third hour...but i looked all over the camera and couldnt find a s/n ... which is odd but yeah ... idk ... i am going to talk to "sarah" again before the end of school to figure everything out... i should ask to see the camera agian...and if i find a serial number ill check into where it actually came from... thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sarah81 0 Report post Posted February 1, 2006 I hope you find a s/n and that the cops can track down the truth about the camera. As for your friend: giving him a heads-up to what's going on might be something to consider. If I sold something to someone and that person had problems later, I would want fair warning so that I would have a little time to figure out what to do about the situation. If your friend didn't steal the camera, he'll want a chance to track down the person he bought it from (i.e. find the real thief) and help protect himself. Oh - and did you look *inside* the camera for a s/n? The numbers can be inside the battery compartment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebbinger_413 0 Report post Posted February 1, 2006 no i didnt sarah...thanks...i should check that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebbinger_413 0 Report post Posted February 1, 2006 ahh...man...this sux *bottom*...ok well...no s/n...and the results are bad...but anyways...heres how it went down..:)i came into school today with the rest of the stuff i bought with the camera...and my friend (megan) told me that i got called to the office...so i went to the office...the principle (frank) wanted to talk to me...and he took me into a back room and asked me a bunch of questions...like who i got it from, when, how much, blah blah blah...well...then i had to go and talk to the liason officer (finger) and he said that whether or not i bought the camera, it is still considered stealing (because i bought it stolen or sumtin and i shoulda known that or sum **** like that) but anyways...i got a 250 dollar fine ! and a three day out of school suspension for this sh** ... its bull...so now im at home waiting till my dad gets home (he never believes anything that i say) he knows i bought the camera and all...but frank called his cell and talked to him bout what exactly is going on...my dad gets pod at anything that goes wrong...so i can only imagine what hes going to say when he talks to me bought buying a stolen camera and getting 3 days suspension and a 250 dollar fine :@ ;( this sux Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iGuest 3 Report post Posted February 2, 2006 It's not a crime unless you know the product was stolen.However they do say that if the price is too good to be true, then be suspicious of this. It's hard winning a case, knowing how much you paid for this camera, and the likelihood of buying a broken camera.What has happened is that they've forced you into either accepting, or admitting you were wrong.This is why you never say anything to anyone in situations that arise like this, usually people will pretend that they are trying to help, but in all honesty, they're trying to get enough information to pin it on you. You had rights to not speak to them, and you should never speak to anyone without a lawyer present.You do have rights to appeal this, but what you've said to anyone there, will most likely be used against you if it could. Unless you could find another angle to attack this from.Cheers,MC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pomjim 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Recieving stolen property is a criminal offence, regardless of knowledge of said crime or not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sarah81 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 That's harsh, but you aren't the first person who's been caught in the middle. A friend of mine worked for a neighbor who lived across a field. My friend wanted to run home to grab something, so the neighbor told him to hop on the 4-wheeler that was parked out front and take it home, then come back. So the rightful owner of the 4-wheeler, who wasn't the neighbor of course, caught my pal on the 4-wheeler. They were on my friend's property (trespassing) riding other 4-wheelers, actually, but they called the cops anyway. My friend gave them the 4-wheeler, said he had no clue that it had been stolen from them, and walked back over to the neighbor's to figure out what was going on. Ah, some excuse of course, so my friend decided not to work for that moron anymore.What nobody told my friend was that the cops were called even though the rightful owners (a.k.a. the trespassers) had gotten their 4-wheeler back without any problems from my friend. The cops actually issued a warrant, which nobody knew about until my friend was pulled over almost a year later and promptly taken to jail, where he had to stay overnight because he was pulled out of his car at something like 10 or 11 at night.That was over *two years ago* and my friend's court date still hasn't come up yet. He has to call his bail bondsman once a week to say, "Yeah, it's X, I'm still in town, bye." Freaking retarded.Moral of the story: don't ever even *touch* anything that isn't yours. Just *using* the stuff is enough to get you into trouble. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebbinger_413 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 idk...im starting to not like cops very much...i mean...dont get me wrong...they do alot of good things...getting rid of all the criminals making sure that stolen stuff is returned and all that great cop stuff...but i think that they just take it too far sometimes...i was watching a show the other day dateline nbc i think it was...they were doing an inside investegation...they went online to a chat room and started chatting to people pretending to be young kids who wanted sex (so they were lying - comes up later in the story) and they were looking for sexual offenders and stuff...they would tell the people they talked to to meet them and a location with some stuff and junk...well dateline had cameras and cops and junk set up at that location and would catch the guys as they came in...once again kinda seems icky on how they are doing this...but they are getting rid of some bad people in this case (one guy was 60+ and was there to have sex with a 10 year old boy....nasty...illegal crap - another afgahn guy said that what he was doing was legal and that they had no reason to arrest him or ne thing) but...it was interesting...cause the guys would flip out...but the cops lured them there....so idk...kinda one of those things...lol..i think i got off topic...maybe...a little...o well...no post counts ne ways... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iGuest 3 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 I filed a stolen camera report on a free site online. It appears you can report any other stolen property as well - as long as it has a serial number. The site on which I reported my camera stolen is http://www.stolen-property.com/ -reply by Report Stolen Camera Online Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iGuest 3 Report post Posted November 5, 2009 You are not complicit in a crime for owning stolen propertyCaught With Stolen Camera !You are not complicit in a theft / crime if you buy something unknowingly which is stolen - like a stolen camera. Until there is a worldwide stolen property database, which is where sites like http://www.stolen-property.com/ are heading, how could you possibly know something is stolen before you buy it? Legally, you simply have to forfeit the stolen camera. You shouldn't be fined or prosecuted for any reason. -reply by stolen camera report Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
