Published: November 09, 2009 06:36 am      

Where's my stuff?

Experts say stolen items can be found almost anywhere

Catlettsburg — Dozens of area residents have become victims of home burglaries and other thefts in recent weeks.

With thousands of dollars in belongings missing and believed stolen, victims often frequently have the same questions for law enforcement officials investigating these crimes.

Where does it all go and how do I get my property back?

Boyd County Sheriff Terry Keelin said there are numerous places thieves will take stolen goods in an effort to sell them for quick cash.

Pawn shops, flea markets, eBay, antique shops, secondhand stores, mail-in gold wholesalers and check-cashing places are among the most popular.

Keelin said the majority of thefts in our area are drug driven, and because of that thieves do not tend to take items very far to sell.

“They are going to steal today to get their fix this evening,” he said. “Tomorrow they are going to steal again to get their fix tomorrow.”

For that reason, Keelin said, most stolen items, if they are recovered, are found within 30 miles of where they were taken.

Keelin said there are exceptions. Some organized gangs will take things out of the area to larger cities to sell.

Recovering stolen items and identifying their owners is tough police work.

It can be much less complicated, according to Keelin, if victims have taken smart precautionary steps.

The most helpful include writing down the serial numbers and descriptions of all valuables and taking photographs of items.

If these steps are taken, items taken to a pawn shop often can be more easily identified and recovered, according to Keelin.

Many pawn shops are required by local ordinances to participate in LeadsOnline, a national data base that collects and analyzes transaction records from businesses — such as pawn shops — that take in property from the public.

Law enforcement agencies across the country can access the database and search for stolen items.

Pawn shops in Ashland, Huntington and Charleston, along with Greenup County, are required to participate in LeadsOnline, but some in surrounding areas — including Wheelersburg, Ironton and Carter County — are not. However, some pawnbrokers in these areas participate voluntarily.

Online auction houses such as eBay and its stores also participate in LEADS, Keelin said.

How LEADS works

The LEADS system works this way: An individual bringing an item to pawn is required to have a photo ID. His or her name, address and a detailed description of all items sold to the business are entered into the online system. Serial numbers, model codes and other identifying information also are recorded.

The only drawback, according to police, is the same detailed information is not recorded when an item is sold, with the exception of firearms, meaning if an item is resold before it’s identified as stolen, there is no way to track it.

If an item is identified as stolen through the LEADS system by a police officer doing an investigation and is still at the business, it is immediately placed on a police hold, meaning it cannot be sold, Keelin said.

If an item is identified at a shop by a victim, he or she should immediately contact law enforcement. If the item can be positively identified, the same procedure is followed, according to Keelin.

Oftentimes victims want to know if they can take possession of their stuff immediately when it’s located.

“If you want to get that out of pawn before court, then you pay the pawn,” Keelin said. “Otherwise you have to wait until the sentencing is through. The commonwealth’s attorney would seek restitution for what it cost you to get out of pawn on top of everything else.”

That process can typically take several weeks or even months, according to Keelin.

Tri-State Pawn and Jewelry Loan Manager Cher Williams said her company’s policy is to sell the item back to a victim for “however much money we have invested in it. If we go after the person who sold it to us, we charge them all our fees and interest payments.”

Keelin said the policy of requiring victims to purchase their items from pawn if they want them immediately is in place to encourage them to follow through with prosecution.

“They were using us as a collection agency to investigate where their property was, then they’d come get it from us and they didn’t want to prosecute anymore. They say that was their only interest, to get their property back. Well, we’ve spent hundreds of hours investigating,” Keelin said.

He said this is most common in the more than 50 percent of cases where a victim knows or is related to the individual who committed the theft.

Pawn precautions

Williams said her company takes precautions not to purchase stolen items because this costs money each time an item is identified as stolen.

She estimated court ordered restitution is actually paid only about 50 percent of the time when an item was stolen and then sold to her store.

To avoid purchasing stolen items, Williams said, loan officers question individuals about how they came to possess certain items. She said the shop also often reports suspicious activity to police or refuses to buy items that could be stolen.

The biggest red flag, Williams said, is if someone brings in the same item numerous times.

Individuals who have been identified as suspects in pending theft, burglary or receiving stolen property cases because they’ve sold a stolen item to the store are blocked from selling to the store until the cases are resolved. Even after a conviction, she said, they can continue to be barred from the shop if restitution has not been paid.

Flea markets and others

Stolen items taken to flea markets, antique shops and other secondhand stores are often harder to find and recover.

Keelin said if a victim believes an item at one of these locations is stolen property, law enforcement officials will most likely immediately seize the item to investigate.

“We will seize it, but we may have to end up having to give it back to the flea market or antique shop or whatever ... if it comes to the point that we can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that that is not your property. Then we’re going to have to return it,” he said.

Keelin said it is also harder to solve these cases because the individual who has the item may not be who stole it and there is no paper trail to help track down the thieves.

This is why he believes participation in LEADS or other database systems should be required nationally for all businesses that buy and sell used items.

“Everyone should have to participate in this,” he said.

Hillbilly Flea Market Manager Lonnie Miller said some of the roughly 40 permanent vendors inside the market keep some records of purchases even though they aren’t required to by law.

“Anything that we buy of any substance, we require IDs, preferably a photo ID, that we get copies of. We make them fill out a form on all the items they are selling us,” he said. “That way if something does happen, if it does happen to come up stolen, then there is a paper trial that leads back to the people that sold it to you.”

Vendors on the lot outside at the flea market are a different story. There is a “no-questions-asked” policy about what types of items vendors are selling, according to Miller.

“They are responsible for what they sell,” he said. “That is pretty much like a yard sale. I don’t keep track of my outside dealers. Some of them you might see a couple of weeks in a row. Sometimes you see them one time.”

Miller charges a fee for vendors to set up on the lot, but he collects no other information. “It would be completely impossible to keep track of every dealer that comes and goes here,” he said.

He said most of those sellers are “pretty much people selling things that come out of their garage.”

“Most of them, to be honest, don’t want people to know that they are selling. Our government seems — if you sell something you’ve had for 10 years, the government thinks you owe money on that. They want to charge you anyway you can.

“Most people want the opportunity to sell some of their used items without paying taxes on that, and I think they ought to.”

He has noticed an increase in the number wanting to sell items. He points to the economy. “As times get harder, people try to sell things that make ends meet.”

Miller believes most sales are made by those who own the items. But he admits, “I’m sure there are illegitimate sales that go on.”

Williams said she believes pawn customers are often stereotyped as well.

“Everybody thinks that people use money for drugs that come in here. That’s not true. It’s the average person. Times are hard right now and we have a bigger influx of that,” she said.

Williams believes pawn shops get a bad rap because of their reporting requirements.

“The reason that pawn shops are always associated with taking stolen merchandise is because we’re the only agency that reports it. Of course we’re going to be targeted because we have all the facts,” she said.

Williams said the National Pawnbrokers Association has determined through studies of police reports that less than one tenth of one percent of items reported stolen is received by pawn shops.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.