I've had one car stolen and another broken into during my 17 years in Bakersfield.
The BPD found the first car in Porterville, after the thieves broke the clutch and had to abandon it.
Like most people who are the victim of theft, I felt violated.
Thieves are pretty slimy in my book and adolescent thieves are even worse.
Police will tell you that it's usually the start of something bigger.
BPD detectives recently stumbled across a couple of punks that were breaking into houses in the Rosedale area, after a patrol officer stopped the pair and discovered a stolen laptop in a back pack.
Then, the criminal masterminds sat in the back of the patrol car and proceeded to point out all the homes their "gang" had broken into, including a friend of mine.
It led police to a local business, Movement Bike Shop, where the owner was arrested for receiving stolen property after he reportedly bought "hot" items from the punk thieves.
Did he know it was stolen? Who cares.
Police didn't say if the property was in the original boxes or not, but it's probably safe to assume that it wasn't.
They say the investigation is on-going.
Police are working with the Sheriff's Dept. on this case, since some of the homes burglarized were in the county.
Someone asked me if my friend had insurance, which he does, and told me to lighten up because he's going to get brand new stuff.
Lighten up?
What about 20 years worth of pictures, music and personal documents that were stored on three separate hard drives that were stolen. Can insurance replace that?
Who's going to pay the almost certain increase in his policy?
The teens were released during the three week investigation that ended with the business owners arrest on Tuesday.
What about the other items they swiped that were probably dumped in a vacant lot somewhere after police initially contacted them.
My buddy's home was so trashed by the punks, he's still discovering things they stole more than three weeks after the fact.
How many other people have they ripped off and got away with it.
I'm glad they got caught, but so far none of my friend's possessions have been recovered.
An anti-climactic ending so far.
There's no talk right now if the kids will end up serving time in Juvenile Hall for their offenses.
Investigators can't release the names of the suspects or where they live to my friend, so he can attempt to recover any financial loss himself.
C'mon people, we need to protect our kids, even the bad or misguided ones, right?!
I hope the insurance company will try to go after the parents at the very least.
Someone needs to pay, instead of the victim.
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2 comments:
It's pretty sad when thieves seem to have more rights than the victims. I'm glad you're speaking out. Not many people do, even though crime in Bakersfield is horrendous.
Hey Mikey, don't forget to check out my latest blog and video where I interview the director of the Fox show, '24' at Comicon 2008. I know, it's not ABC23, but so what? Jack Bauer is cool! - n.l.
Mike - thanks for the support here. You're correct - we as a city, as a community and as a nation have been trained to become passive victims, allowing the protection of perpetrator's rights to become dominant. And what motivated two punks to break and enter? The very mindset that suggests "insurance will cover it."
This country was built upon individual respect and responsibility. Whether or not it's deemed politically correct at this point in time, I will do my best to hold not only these juveniles, but their guardians as well as our legal system to their responsibilities. Thanks for your help in my efforts.
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