So...I caught my first Coin Thief!

Jack, you sure know how to make a girl blush! Next to my wonderful husband, you are my new BBFF (best boyfriend forever)!!

By the way, I followed up on my complaint but it hasn't even been assigned to a lead detective yet, much less been sent over to the DA. I am told it should be assigned next week so I will follow up then and keep you all posted.

 

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I'm glad you got resolution to the theft, which I suppose is the most important thing after all. I happened to be by your table today, and generally observe there is no way to watch everything at shows. I was discussing with another dealer of his recent theft, where basically professionals took some very valuable items right under his nose. But the people who are caught are generally kids or kleptos--and the experience of being cuffed and questioned often scares them enough to avoid a second experience. Dealers will never stop the sleight-of-hand professionals whose "magic act" is stealing. Best to simply set up your table to minimize losses. Cheers, Kurt

 

I have heard lots of horror stories from other dealers about how thieves get away with coins, and usually they have a partner which distracts the dealer. I know that I have tried to be even more diligent, especially when it comes to people looking at coins in my notebooks, which is what this guy was stealing. I also had some other coins stolen a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure I was distracted by someone else while another person took 4 of my certified error coins. It certainly is a terrible feeling knowing that someone ripped you off and got away with it. But I guess it comes with the territory of being a coin dealer.

By the way, the latest on this guy is that he plead Not Guilty, his pretrial was set for last Monday but it was continued to later in April, and the D.A. said he most likely will plead out. I understand he has prior petty theft convictions, so I am curious what kind of plea he'll get. The D.A. said she'd let me know, so I will post the results when I find out.

 

I imagine it's hard, because dealers are often alone to a table and must fend for themselves, vs. security at a retail establishment--most customers have no idea how many security people watch the floors.

So whenever I'm sitting at a table, I'm always on the alert for people with bags, awkward mannerisms, and strange hand movements. Collectors watch out for dealers too! I hope you have a good day on Saturday...Friday seemed a tad slow over last Fall.

 

You are all aces Penny Lady!!!

 

I believe here in Michigan anything over $100 can be classified as a Felony, especially with a prior record. I'll ask my neighbor tomorrow.

 

Stay tuned, there is an update pending on this but I will yield the floor to the Penny Lady. She is in Santa Clara but she will respond soon.......

 

Yes, everyone, there is a brand new Chapter on the Bakersfield coin thief! And Todd and his dad got to witness first hand this whole escapade today! Soooo, this morning I just happened to be talking to the other Bakersfield dealer about forwarding to me the picture of the guy I caught stealing coins at the Bakersfield show, but we were having problems getting it sent from his cell phone, all the while looking at his ugly mug while we tried to fiture out how to do this. Then, all of a sudden, the dealer's brother comes running over to my table and tells me we don't have to worry about transferring the photo because I could simply take a new picture of the guy with my own cell phone since he just walked in the door at the Santa Clara show!!! I couldn't freaking believe that this guy had actually shown up at another coin show while his petty theft case was still pending!!!

So, I am keeping an eye out for this guy to see if he makes it over to my area of the show, but apparently he is at the opposite end of the show (the Santa Clara show has probably a couple hundred dealers and is in a pretty good-sized showroom, maybe half the size of a football field). A little while later, Todd stops by my table so I ask him if he would watch my table (I'm alone at the show today), so I could go look for this guy. I find him at the other side of the room and just watch him from a couple feet behind him as he's looking through a dealer's open box of casino chips. I then notice him dropping casino chips into his pocket (he is wearing cargo pants that have large open pockets). So I approach the thief, take his picture with my cell phone, and in a loud voice so everyone around the area could hear, I tell the dealer that I caught this guy stealing my coins at the Bakersfield show and he needs to be watched carefully. The dealer nods, while the thief continues to shuffle through the casino chips in the open case. The thief then takes a handful of casino chips over to the dealer and pays for them, then starts heading for the door which is several long rows away. So I follow him, pointing to this guy and loudly telling every dealer we pass that he stole coins from me at the Bakersfield show. It took a while to get to the front since he was way in the back of the show, so I was able to "show and tell" him to many dealers and coin patrons along the way.

When we finally got to the door, I told the security guard that I suspected him of stealing coins and asked her if she would have him empty his pockets. The thief tried to get away, refusing to empty his pockets, but the security guard blocked his way and detained him, telling the thief he could empty his pockets or be arrested right then. So he reluctantly complied. He showed her the casino chips in the bag that he had purchased, but when he got to his pockets, sure enough, he produced a handful of additional casino chips. Just so you know, these were very inexpensive "lose" chips that were worth a couple dollars each, nothing expensive at all.

The security guard then sent for the dealer he had stolen from, who identified the chips as "probably" being his, but he couldn't "swear in court" that they were his since the chips were common and were loose, not contained in any personalized holder. Since I actually witnesses this guy steal these chips, security went ahead and handcuffed him and took him to the security room, where they detained him while I gave my statement.

Unfortunately, I found out later that, since the casino chip dealer would not press charges and since I was only a witness and not a "victim," all they could was take his photo and personal information, and ban him from attending any further Santa Clara shows.

Coincidentally, the D.A. on the Bakersfield case called me yesterday to let me know the thief's pretrial hearing was continued to 4/24 and that they would probably plea him out (he had plead "not guilty" at his arraignment a couple weeks ago). So you can bet I will be calling the D.A. first thing Monday to let her know all about the thief's new escapades, and will even forward the photos I took of him at the show right after he stole those casino chips. I will also urge her, if they still offer him a plea bargain, that a condition of his probation should include his not being able to attend ANY coins shows anywhere. I am hoping this has some impact on whatever "sentence" he ends up getting.

Also, by the way, the security guards told me that caught 4 other thiefs today at the show today, all of which had stolen much more expensive coins and notes so they did go to jail!

I guess this is a sign of the these tough economic times, and am sure at least the coin dealers at this show are being much more diligent in watching out for thieves. I also learned that had I just let security watch my thief as he stole more coins from other dealers, more than likely he would have been arrested since the value would have been higher and there would have been other dealers who may have been willing to press charges. Lesson learned for me - and you can bet that I am locking my cases all the time and keeping a much closer eye on all my inventory!

 

Charmy, RIGHT ON !!!!

You go girl, lol, this is awesome, but what with the lame dealers who won;t press charges? Thats too bad.

Way to go !!

 

Keep it up!

 

If I might make an observation, that strikes me as a rather obvious, visible act.
So I'll toss this out--was this guy working alone, or in tandem with somebody else? A common scenario I've seen in retail is where somebody makes a deliberate scene, while an accomplice commits the main crime. So, while this guy deliberately pockets some cheap poker chips and makes a scene, did perp #2 get to work and grab something valuable?

Just throwing that out there--it's a commonly seen method in theft on high-end items.

I saw a few odd things on Saturday, such as one guy sitting down at Jack's coins with a big plastic bag on his lap. As I was going through some IHCs to buy, I noticed this guy looking at me periodically. When Jack had to get away from his table, his neighbor took over and I stood up to walk over to the albums where this guy was sitting. As I approached this guy, he gave me this nervous, intense look...picked up his bag and walked over to the exonumia area. Now, what am I supposed to make of that--get all suspicious or just blow it off? At some point your mind begins to fill in blanks, where possibly nothing exists. :rolling: Still, it's a stupid move to look at coins with an open bag close at hand.

 

This guy was working alone and definitely has a klepto problem. I followed him around and he was alone the entire time. And he was alone when I caught him at the Bakersfield show too. I know many of the better thieves like to work in tandom. I am pretty sure that's how my certified errors disappeared - distract and grab.

By the way, I found out security caught SEVEN (7) coin thiefs at the Santa Clara show on Saturday alone, most of which they just photographed, took their name/address, told them never to come back, then let them go because the dealers just wanted their coins or the money, so they didn't press charges. And they were caught with some expensive coins and paper money - enough for a felony! Maybe I am just naieve, but I am having a hard time accepting the fact that these dealers just let these guys get away without pressing charges, knowing the thieves will just move on to steal from someone else.

By the way, one dealer at the show had a $1,000 bill stolen from him but they didn't actually catch the guy - yet. However, they did call the police, did some investigation at the show, talked to security and others who came forward. Apparently, they know who the thief is because, apparently, he sold two different $1,000 bills to a show patron and the thief gave the patron his business card. Security saw this on the show surveillance video. Then they have the thief on video going out to the loading dock area where there are more camers. The thief then brorrowed a pocket knife from some guy at the loading dock, cut open the plastic holder with the stolen $1,000 bill, and discarded the plastic holder on the ground. Security went and retrieved the plastic holder which contained some very clear bold fingerprints! I am guessing that guy will be getting a nice surprise soon.

 

Haha! Now that sounds like direct evidence. Thanks for that update-I'm glad to hear there's some progress.

 

Good job Penny Lady, just dont understand why these other dealers wont press charges. Shame that it has come to this.

 

Not that I agree with it, but not many dealers are not from that town. In order to press charges, they have to appear in court - at the whim of the thief. When his lawyer finds out that the dealer has to travel, they make lots of last minute changes to assure that the dealer/witness has to spend at least time and likely money for travel to the point it is no longer worth it to prosecute.

 

Good point. Still sucks.

 

Very true and often they will deliberately steal from an out of state dealer just for that reason. Rather than have to make many long trips to get to court only to have the case continued so they will have to make the trip AGAIN, they just settle for the return of their property. If you live a long way from the court location, say 300 miles and you know you may have to make that round trip for nothing four or five times before the case is actually heard, it isn't surprising so many don't press charges.

 

UPDATE: So I Caught My First Coin Thief!

UPDATE! The DA called me this morning and told me my Bakersfield thief plead guilty. He received a fine and 3 years probation. Some of you may remember that I blogged about catching him again at the Santa Clara show while my Bakersfield charges against him were still pending, but the Santa Clara guy he stole from wouldn't press charges so they let him go. Even though I told the DA about this, there wasn't much she could do since he wasn't arrested. I tried to get him banned from coin shows as part of his probation, but that didn't happen. But now, if he's caught again while on probation, hopefully they'll throw the book at him! So keep an eye out for this guy and if you see him, watch him closely, he really has a klepto problem as he targets low-end material. Now that he's convicted, I can post specifics about him - his name is Billy Lee Scott from Fresno, and here are some photos I took from my cell phone.

 

I doubt that I would run into him here, but I will try to remember him. I also hear you got another one. Keep up the good work. We need more like you.

 

That is really cool. Hopefully Billy Lee Scott from Fresno, CA will find out that his picture is posted here.

Charmy, I think your next move should be to start going undercover. This could be your calling!