Brian Drent grades GEM MINT 10 for integrity

[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.

[danmckee]

Actually one board member helped a bunch in the beginning. Adam Warshaw once again came to the aid of a collector but there wasn't much he could do. Law enforcement was contacted and said no crime was committed, Adam can vouch for this. So keep chuckling. Dan.

[Peter_Spaeth]

What were the circumstances of the theft?

[vintagewhitesox]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

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

That's what I was doing


Wait, so when is a theft not a crime?

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by vintagewhitesox

Wait, so when is a theft not a crime?

When the authorities decide not to prosecute.

[vintagewhitesox]

Deciding not to prosecute just means you wont face the criminal justice system and risk the possibility of being found guilty. The actual act of taking property that you do not rightfully own is still a crime.

[Jacklitsch]

From a practical standpoint I guess the Auction House did the right thing but...

I will first have to presume that he checked with the consignor and got his approval and if not...

The prudent thing would be to file an interpleader action joining Dan and the consignor as Defendants and let the Court figure it out.

[pwilk17]

You said that this is a happy ending to a recent theft. Do you think the innocent consignor of the card (who now is out $ - perhaps many $) thinks that this is a happy ending?

[Exhibitman]

In a nutshell, the card was sold on Ebay and the buyer (from Glendale CA) paid by CC then claimed that he had not received it--despite the fact that signature confirmation was used--he claimed the item wasn't in the box. He instituted a Paypal/CC claim and got his money back and still had the card. The card then turned up in the MH auction. Whether he reholdered it and then sold it or whether it went through more than one set of hands I cannot say. If it wasn't for the kangaroo court system at the Ebay-mandated Paypal, however, this sort of crap could never take place because you could use a check and wait for it to clear. With Paypal, you take the same risks as any merchant w/r/t fraudulent charge-backs.

My experience in LA County has been that law enforcement is as useless as tits on a bull when it comes to false pretense stuff like this; they simply declare it a civil dispute and punt. The scammer in this case used a mailbox store to have his items delivered so that there would be a signature but it would not be his.

So far as title goes, it depends in some degree on how the item was obtained and what jurisdiction you are in. Under some states' laws a good faith purchaser for value acquires clean title even if the seller to that person got the item by larcenous means.