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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Penny Lady®, post: 562058, member: 16948&quot;]Yes, everyone, there is a brand new Chapter on the Bakersfield coin thief!&nbsp; And Todd and his dad got to witness first hand this whole escapade today!&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Then, all of a sudden, the dealer&#039;s brother comes running over to my table and tells me we don&#039;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!!!&nbsp; I couldn&#039;t freaking believe that this guy had actually shown up at another coin show while his petty theft case was still pending!!!&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>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).&nbsp; A little while later, Todd stops by my table so I ask him if he would watch my table (I&#039;m alone at the show today), so I could go look for this guy.&nbsp; I find him at the other side of the room and just watch him from a couple feet behind him as he&#039;s looking through a dealer&#039;s open box of casino chips.&nbsp; I then notice him dropping casino chips into his pocket (he is wearing cargo pants that have large open pockets).&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; The dealer nods, while the thief continues to shuffle through the casino chips in the open case.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; It took a while to get to the front since he was way in the back of the show, so I was able to &quot;show and tell&quot; him to many dealers and coin patrons along the way.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; So he reluctantly complied.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Just so you know, these were very inexpensive &quot;lose&quot; chips that were worth a couple dollars each, nothing expensive at all.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The security guard then sent for the dealer he had stolen from, who identified the chips as &quot;probably&quot; being his, but he couldn&#039;t &quot;swear in court&quot; that they were his since the chips were common and were loose, not contained in any personalized holder.&nbsp; 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.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>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 &quot;victim,&quot;&nbsp; all they could was take his photo and personal information, and ban him from attending any further Santa Clara shows.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Coincidentally, the D.A. on the Bakersfield case called me yesterday to let me know the thief&#039;s pretrial hearing was continued to 4/24 and that they would probably plea him out (he had plead &quot;not guilty&quot; at his arraignment a couple weeks ago).&nbsp; So you can bet I will be calling the D.A. first thing Monday to let her know all about the thief&#039;s new escapades, and will even forward the photos I took of him at the show right after he stole those casino chips.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; I am hoping this has some impact on whatever &quot;sentence&quot; he ends up getting.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>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!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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