Brian Drent grades GEM MINT 10 for integrity

[egbeachley]

When confronted with evidence of theft, what do the owners of other Auction Houses usually do? Do they still attempt to sell it? Wouldn't that be fencing stolen goods?

[danmckee]

I am not a lawyer but I think Brian checked into the legal aspects and was under absolutely no legal obligation to return the card to the rightful owner. Remember, doing that put the consignor out who was also an innocent bystandard in this mess. I don't want to speak for Brian but I think he told me that he consulted his lawyer. Maybe Brian can chime in here to confirm. Dan.

[egbeachley]

I guess the other alternative would be to give it to the proper authorities.

I'm sure that in this case, the rightful owner got his card back. But it could be a risky move by MileHigh as the theft victim may no longer be the legal owner. If he received insurance proceeds, the insurance company is the owner. If purchased from a Police Auction that filed proper notices, the Consignor is the rightful owner. Etc, etc.

[danmckee]

This is not from the REA theft and yes it was graded but reholdered after the theft and no insurance was involved. Dan.

[danmckee]

oh, and the proper authorities never considered the theft a crime so giving it to any law enforcement makes no sense.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by danmckee

oh, and the proper authorities never considered the theft a crime so giving it to any law enforcement makes no sense.

uh, ok....I believe ya' Dan but last time I checked most (all) thefts were crimes. Where are our board lawyers when ya need 'em?

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by Leon

Where are our board lawyers when ya need 'em?

Probably sitting back and chuckling over all of the speculation and interpretations of the law based on assumptions and limited information.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

When confronted with evidence of theft, what do the owners of other Auction Houses usually do? Do they still attempt to sell it? Wouldn't that be fencing stolen goods?

My understanding is that there can never be a clear title to stolen goods if the legal owner doesn't get them back. That being said I think (key word is 'think") there is precedence for when a stolen item is known about by the rightful owners, and they don't act on it in a timely manner, then there is some limitation set for recovery.

I think Brian did the right thing but I would have thought the item would have gone back to the consignor and the person it was stolen from would go to the consignor to get it back. I definitely would have consulted a lawyer, as it appears Brian did. Kudo's to him!!

And to answer the question above. I am fairly certain that knowingly selling stolen goods is a criminal act.

[Rich Klein]

If these are items from the stolen collection that REA blogged about recently. If so; and they are the graded cards; another reason why there are benefits to graded cards

Rich