Thou Shalt Not Steal (From The Crazy White Girl)

"Crazy White Girl" pictured above.

Moving all the way across the country to Los Angeles in pursuit of my dreams led to a lot of new experiences for me. One of those being the experience of being robbed; around a year after moving to Los Angeles, I  had some of my stuff stolen after a house I was pet sitting at was broken into. Here is my story:

I was pet sitting for a woman for the weekend. She lived right around the corner from where I was living at the time so it was nice and convenient for me and I loved the dogs. I was wrapping up this instance of pet sitting as she was heading home that morning (it was a couple hours drive home for her). That morning when I got up I had heard what sounded like a couple home alarms go off on what seemed to be neighboring streets. I remember noticing it but not really thinking much of it in the moment.

Since the woman had started her drive home I thought I would run home and put a load of laundry in the washer at my place and then come back until she made it home. I was gone no longer than ten to fifteen minutes, literally—as I said I lived just around the corner and I drove, I didn’t walk. When I got back to her house I opened the overhead garage door to go in because I didn’t want to dig out the key for the front door. Almost immediately after entering the house I noticed something was wrong. For starters, there was a bottle of Patron tequila sitting out on top of her cabinet that I had not had out. The two dogs I was watching were also acting strange, very scared, and skittish. They were not normally skittish dogs so I was definitely concerned. Once I made my way back to the bedroom and saw all the dresser drawers hanging open and stuff thrown everywhere it became abundantly clear what had happened: some twat waffle had broken in, ransacked what they could, and stole stuff—MY stuff included. Since I was only going to be gone a short time I had left my backpack that had some important things in it including my laptop and an old school digital camera (separate from your phone; yes, those actually existed). My backpack with those items in it was gone. 

I realized since this all happened so quickly and I was not gone that long there was a chance the person (or people) who broke in could still be in the house somewhere. So I went back outside to the street and texted the home owner to tell her what happened and called the police. I told the police there was a chance they were still in the house. 

Then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. After maybe twenty minutes of what felt like excruciating waiting outside, the shock of ‘did this actually happen?’ had worn off and I was pissed off more than anything. I was ready to start driving the neighborhood looking for the ass hat(s) that did this carrying my backpack because I figured they couldn’t have made it too far. Unfortunately the police hadn’t arrived yet so I didn’t feel like I should leave. So instead I went back in the house, grabbed a big ass kitchen knife and searched the house. It was clear, they were gone.

The police finally showed up around 50 minutes to an hour after I called it in (good thing the burglar wasn’t still in the house with me). I gave my statement, they sent out some burglary detectives that would be assigned the case, investigated the house, and collected what evidence they could. They were still investigating when the home owner returned home from her trip so they filled us both in with what they had at that point.

Based on the information I gave them and what they found it was believed that the burglar had either come in through a doggy door on the side of the house or was able to reach through the doggy door and unlock the side door (it was a bigger than average doggy door) and that’s how they entered the house. The side door was left slightly ajar when I returned so they probably exited that way too. It seems like I most likely had returned to the house while they were still there and interrupted the burglary. We figured that they heard the overhead garage door opening and ran at that point (possibly when they were going through the liquor cabinet and that’s why the Patron bottle was randomly sitting out). In hindsight it probably was a good thing that I went in through the garage instead of the front door otherwise I may have walked right into them essentially.

In the end they had gotten away with my backpack which had my laptop and digital camera in it as well as a couple other important things and mostly costume jewelry of the home owner with a couple important jewelry pieces missing as well and her iPod. 

The detectives informed me that typically what happens in these situations is the thief gets rid of the stolen stuff very quickly either by pawning it or selling it etc. and so while they have systems that are supposed to check pawn shops for stolen goods, there was a good chance the stuff would be gone before that could even happen. They basically told me there was no chance I was going to get my stuff back but they would do what they could to find the person. I was not ready to accept that and was determined I would find the fucker myself if I had to. The detectives finally finished up everything at the house and left. The home owner was very freaked out, rightfully so, knowing that someone had been in her home and did not want to stay there alone that night so she asked me to stay with her. 

That night I began searching Craigslist for listings for a laptop matching the description of mine, researching the area pawn shops to make phone calls myself the next day, and doing whatever I could to try and solve my own case. No one steals my shit and gets away with it.

A day or two later after having no luck finding my stuff, I was talking to my landlord and told him what happened. He happened to mention that just down the street there was a so-called computer repair shop that he knew sold used laptops and computers and stuff. I think he told me this thinking maybe I could buy a cheap used laptop to replace the one that had been stolen, at least temporarily, but my spidey sense was tingling. I wasn’t really interested in buying some beat up used laptop and I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of getting my laptop back. I had a feeling I needed to go to this shop. 

I think it was the next day that I went to the shop to take a look. I walked in and looked around. I wasn’t super impressed with anything; the items he appeared to have for sale didn’t look too enticing to me. I looked around the whole shop area and didn’t see my laptop anywhere. I was disappointed and just about to leave when that little voice of my intuition told me not to leave and to go talk to the guy at the counter. 

So I approached him and he of course, wanting to be a little salesman, asked me what I was looking for. I told him I needed to get a laptop and that I really like HP brand (the brand of my laptop that had been stolen) and asked if he had any HPs as I hadn’t seen any for sale in the shop. He said “Oh!” and put up his finger like just you wait. He went over to the other end of the counter and I saw him messing with a laptop that was behind the counter plugged in and sitting open like it was being used or fixed. He unplugged it, wiped off the keyboard and cleaned it up a bit, and turned it around and handed it to me open. It was my laptop. He handed me my fucking stolen laptop. I knew it was my laptop because mine had very specific cosmetic damages that made it easy for me to recognize. I stood there holding my stolen computer in my hands for a second with a million thoughts running through my head. What do I do? Do I just take off running and steal it back? How can I call the detectives and let them know I just found my stolen property? I figured that trying to secretly get the detectives out here was my best option. Being an actor,  I settled in to do some acting. 

I examined the computer a bit and turned it over. What did I find on the bottom, you ask?  I’m so glad you brought that up! There on the bottom of my stolen laptop was a photo copy of a drivers license/photo ID of a guy taped to the computer—I presumed it was the ID of the thief who had sold him my computer. So I found my laptop and also most likely just identified the burglar.

I had the shop owner turn the computer on for me because I wanted to see if he had wiped the hard drive yet (he would have been really stupid not to but I had hope he would have been that stupid). When it came up it was a different version of the operating system than was installed on mine prior. So I knew the hard drive had been wiped and they had installed a new edition of the operating system on it. I kind of messed with it a little bit acting like I was interested, asking a few questions, etc. Finally I said I like it and asked him how much it would cost. “Oh, maybe $100.” First off, that’s insulting because even used it was worth more than $100. I wondered how much he had paid the thief for it. So then I’m back to thinking. Do I just give him $100 right now to get my computer back and then go to the cops? Nah, no way was I going to pay someone to get my own stolen property back. So I said “Ok, I do want it but I don’t have $100 right now. I’m going to go outside and call my parents to see if I can get the money from them.” No problem, he says.

I go outside and immediately call the burglary detectives on their direct line. No answer. I try again. No answer. I leave a voicemail. Then I try the non-emergency number to the police station and explain to the officer that answers the situation. She tells me the detectives are out in the field but she tries to reach out to them and let them know about my call. I text my mom, the home owner whose stuff was also stolen, and a few friends telling them I found my stolen computer and I can’t get ahold of the detectives. I tried to figure out what I could do. I was terrified the shop owner would catch on and my laptop would disappear forever. As I was trying to figure out what to do one of my friends that I had texted and who lived nearby showed up. I think she was hoping to keep me out of trouble and make sure I didn’t do anything too crazy. I was just about to call the non-emergency police line back and say they needed to send a unit out now or I’m going to start making quite a scene when my friend and I spotted a patrol unit that just happened to be driving by. They were stopped at the red light right by the business so my friend and I flagged them down and they came over to see what was going on.

I explained to them the whole situation and that I couldn’t get ahold of the detectives assigned to the case because they were in the field. They asked if I had proof it was my computer. I had all my paperwork with the serial number on it right around the corner at my house so they had me run home and get that paperwork and bring it back. Then they told me to go back in by myself one more time to again confirm it was my computer with serial number etc. and then they would come in. 

I did that, signaled to them, and they came in to the shop. They looked at the serial number on the computer, the serial number on my records, and told the shop owner that the laptop appeared to be stolen property. The shop owner acted shocked like he had no idea that anything in his possession could have possibly been stolen. I hadn’t seen any digital cameras when I was looking around but I figured I would mention it anyway so while the patrol officers were there I said “you don’t have any digital cameras do you? Mine was also stolen.”Nope, he absolutely did not have any digital cameras according to him.

Unfortunately for me the patrol officers did not have the authority to seize the property for me, they could only order the shop owner to keep it as an evidentiary hold or property hold. This means the shop owner was not to sell, alter, give away, throw away, or move the item as it was part of an investigation. I  was terrified because even though an evidentiary hold puts a legal obligation on the shop owner to not get rid of the item I was still scared that he would panic and get rid of it anyway. Yeah, he would get in trouble if he did that but my computer would be gone and I wouldn’t get it back if that happened. 

Thankfully while we were all still in the shop talking it over with the shop owner the burglary detectives called me back! I walked away from the counter and explained everything that had happened. When I told the detective where I was he apparently was very familiar with this particular shop and this was not the first time this guy had been dealing in stolen goods. I believe the detectives may have even shut him down once before for the same thing. The detectives told me to stay put and they would be right over.

The patrol officers stayed until the detectives arrived and then gave their information on what had happened once they became involved to the detectives. They took me outside and took my statement while a couple of the other detectives were in talking to the shop owner.  I believe at this point the main detective on the case told me they would be taking my computer but that it was going to have to stay with them in evidence for some time. I was bummed that it would be awhile before I could get it back but was grateful I would get it back eventually. 

I happened to mention that I had asked the shop owner about digital cameras too hoping I could get that back but the shop owner said he didn’t have any. The detective narrowed his eyes at me “He told you he didn’t have any digital cameras?” “Yes.” The detective made a motion with his finger like follow me and I followed him back into the shop to the counter. He had another detective place a plastic drawer full of digital cameras in front of me and had me look through them. I looked through them but there was a lot of cameras and I didn’t really see mine so I sadly told them no, mine wasn’t in there. As the detective was picking up the drawer to put it back I yelled “Wait!” As he was moving the drawer I had seen my wall charger (you know how a lot of those old school digital cameras had a wall charger for the battery). I pulled it out and there it was: my digital camera in its case with the battery charger rubber-banded to it. I opened the case, took out the camera, and turned it on. There were literally still photos of me on the camera along with about three photos of the shop floor that the owner must have accidentally taken when handling the camera. I showed the detectives my camera with photos of me still on it.

To my surprise, the main detective turned to the shop owner and arrested him. Apparently the detective had told the shop owner if he was honest with him he wouldn’t get arrested. I guess he had lied to the detectives too in some way regarding the digital cameras, most likely telling them he didn’t get any digital cameras at the same time as the stolen laptop.

The detectives took the shop owner to jail and the main detective then told me they had to take my computer and camera back to log it and process it as evidence for the case but that he was going to see if he could make it so that they both could be released to me that night instead of having to hold it for months. I followed them back to the station where I had to wait a little while longer but then both my camera and laptop were released back to me. Woohoo! I had just defied all the odds and recovered my stolen property, at least some of it. The laptop was the most important and expensive thing of mine that was stolen anyway so it was a big win for me.

A few months later the detectives called me. The thief, who had been identified by the photocopy of his ID taped to the bottom of my laptop and also later by the arrested shop owner’s statements, was arrested for shoplifting at a nearby Sears. He already had a pretty lengthy record for petty theft and things like that. They were prosecuting him for the shoplifting and also charging him in the burglary case for my stolen stuff since they had the evidence tying him to it and the police needed me to testify in court for their case. The court date ended up being during one of my mom’s visits to California so the detective picked us both up in a squad car and took us to the courthouse. So as part of her vacation Mom got to watch the proceedings in the courtroom and watch me testify. He was convicted on the charges.

What did I learn from this experience? Having and using an alarm system is a good idea. Also, you can’t always count on the police to respond in a timely manner, especially in a big city like Los Angeles. You will always be your own first line of defense in an emergency. You will often have to be a little bit of your own detective in most cases like this. It’s just a reality, especially in big cities, that often detectives have large case loads and don’t always have the resources to devote to every case. It was also confirmed that your intuition usually knows her shit, so listen to it! Finally, remember kids, don’t steal (from anybody) but especially from a crazy white girl whose intuition is on point.

I DO NOT CONSENT FOR BIOGRAPHICAL INFO, PERSONAL INFO, THIS CAPTION, THIS BLOG POST, THESE PHOTOS, VIDEOS, OR OTHER CONTENT TO BE USED FOR AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)TRAINING OR PURPOSES OR USED IN GENERATIVE AI