Hey, so today my stolen property sniffing skills were not so honed. I pawned a dulcimer that a gentleman claimed he purchased the night before on Government Street from a busker. He said he got a good deal on it and he wanted to sell it for a profit. He wouldn't say how much he got it for but he wanted $400. It looked old and worn a bit but it was very interesting and it had a case with it. I have not seen or pawned many dulcimers in my day but I said it was worth a $100 gamble. He asked if I would pawn it for the $100 so he could research it some more and then get it out later. I wrote up the loan for it and put it aside behind the counter.
We got extremely busy and there was a line of 5 customers waiting for help. A couple of men came up to the counter and claimed that I had his stolen dulcimer. Now because he came in so close in time after the other guy came in to pawn it, I thought that something was up. Possibly they were working together to scam the $100 loan and then hope I would hand over the alleged stolen dulcimer. I asked if he had filed a police report and he said that he did the night before. He told me that the dulcimer was taken from him at the Bay Centre when he turned around to purchase a lottery ticket. I suggested he go and get a police officer and we could sort the whole thing out.
A while later, a police officer arrived with the owner who was in before. I told the officer what happened and I provided a copy of the pawn transaction, a photo of the person who pawned it, and a video file on a thumb drive of the whole transaction from our surveillance system. I asked if charges would be laid against the pawner and if a restitution order could be submitted so we could ask for our $100 back. He asked me how successful that has been for me in the past. Suggesting that it seemed pointless. So I asked the owner of the dulcimer if he was interested in reimbursing us for the $100 we paid for the item. He seemed interested until the officer said that that was a "greasy move." He said that the original owner should not have to pay, nor be asked to pay for his own item back. After hearing this, the owner said he was not interested in paying any money. The store was full of people and many customers were waiting for help so I decided to finish the paper work and hand over the dulcimer and finish the transaction so I could get back to work.
I am the greasy pawnbroker who asked to be reimbursed for my out of pocket cost of taking a stolen item. But the owner no longer had to search for his stolen item. It could have went out of town, it could have been destroyed, it could have been sold in a way that was not recorded, it could have been hiding in a closet to cool off for months and months. He could have never found his instrument again. But he did find it quite easily and quickly. And it didn't cost him anything.
