B
Bruzilla
Guest
Last November I had a Beretta Model 96 stolen from my gun rack. At the time I had two definate suspects who I thought could have stolen it. I filled out a report with the Sheriff's Office and I promised to press charges if the person was ever caught, even if they were my sons or a good friend. Last December one of my suspects was busted breaking into a school in the area, and confessed to everything short of being the second gunman on the grassy knoll... but he told the deputies he had nothing to do with any stolen weapons. So that let the suspect list drop to one.
Last month this guy (he's 19) came by the house to visit my sons, and a cell phone disappeared. We immediately suspected this guy, but nobody had seen him take the phone. Later that evening the guy's ex-girlfriend stopped by and we told her about the phone being stolen, and she told us that this guy had called her from that number that afternoon. With that information we had his ass, and called in the deputies again. They went to his house, questioned him, and he confessed to taking the phone and returned it to the deputies. Unfortunately for us, we had had the service cutoff immediately and once he couldn't use the phone anymore he tossed it into a retaining pond and ruined it.
Once I knew that this kid had stolen the phone I knew he had to be the one who stole my pistol. So I went over to the kid's house and spoke to his father and asked his father if I could talk to both of them. I was very calm (externally) and asked the kid to return the pistol he had stolen. He vehemently denied stealing it (of course), and I told him that I knew he had stolen the cell phone, which he denied also (despite having signed a confession a few hours earlier.) I told him that I knew he was having issues at home, and that I didn't want to cause him any more problems than he had already, and that I was trying to do the neighborly thing and asked him to come clean with me before this evolved into a case where he would be going to prison. He continued to deny everything, so I left and came home.
An hour or so later the deputy who had inestigated the phone came back to my house all upset that I had gone and questioned the kid about my missing pistol. He said that the father had told some sergent what had happened, and now the sergent was considering having ME arrested for "intimidating a witness, which is a felony!" I couldn't believe it!!! What effin' witness? The kid's the criminal! I looked that deputy in the face and told him to get on the radio and "get your sergent's fat ass over here." I also told the deputy that if they wanted to arrest me to go right ahead. "I'll spend a night in jail and you and your sergent can spend the rest of the year looking like the biggest idiots in law enforcement." After that yelling the deputy calmed down and told me that he would handle the case and work to recover my pistol and never did bother calling his dreaded sergeant.
The nest day I drove to the State's Attorney's office and talked to the folks there. I told them what had happened and how pissed I was about this "intimidating a witness" crap. The guy from the SAO kind of laughed when I told him what the deputy had told me, and said that technically what I did was considered a felony, there's no one in their right mind who would ever prosecute it. I asked how it was that if I suspect someone of stealing from me that I can't go up and accuse them of it directly? I'm not a cop, I don't have to worry about miranda or anything else. But he said that's the way the law is written... but it's never enforced.
Last month this guy (he's 19) came by the house to visit my sons, and a cell phone disappeared. We immediately suspected this guy, but nobody had seen him take the phone. Later that evening the guy's ex-girlfriend stopped by and we told her about the phone being stolen, and she told us that this guy had called her from that number that afternoon. With that information we had his ass, and called in the deputies again. They went to his house, questioned him, and he confessed to taking the phone and returned it to the deputies. Unfortunately for us, we had had the service cutoff immediately and once he couldn't use the phone anymore he tossed it into a retaining pond and ruined it.
Once I knew that this kid had stolen the phone I knew he had to be the one who stole my pistol. So I went over to the kid's house and spoke to his father and asked his father if I could talk to both of them. I was very calm (externally) and asked the kid to return the pistol he had stolen. He vehemently denied stealing it (of course), and I told him that I knew he had stolen the cell phone, which he denied also (despite having signed a confession a few hours earlier.) I told him that I knew he was having issues at home, and that I didn't want to cause him any more problems than he had already, and that I was trying to do the neighborly thing and asked him to come clean with me before this evolved into a case where he would be going to prison. He continued to deny everything, so I left and came home.
An hour or so later the deputy who had inestigated the phone came back to my house all upset that I had gone and questioned the kid about my missing pistol. He said that the father had told some sergent what had happened, and now the sergent was considering having ME arrested for "intimidating a witness, which is a felony!" I couldn't believe it!!! What effin' witness? The kid's the criminal! I looked that deputy in the face and told him to get on the radio and "get your sergent's fat ass over here." I also told the deputy that if they wanted to arrest me to go right ahead. "I'll spend a night in jail and you and your sergent can spend the rest of the year looking like the biggest idiots in law enforcement." After that yelling the deputy calmed down and told me that he would handle the case and work to recover my pistol and never did bother calling his dreaded sergeant.
The nest day I drove to the State's Attorney's office and talked to the folks there. I told them what had happened and how pissed I was about this "intimidating a witness" crap. The guy from the SAO kind of laughed when I told him what the deputy had told me, and said that technically what I did was considered a felony, there's no one in their right mind who would ever prosecute it. I asked how it was that if I suspect someone of stealing from me that I can't go up and accuse them of it directly? I'm not a cop, I don't have to worry about miranda or anything else. But he said that's the way the law is written... but it's never enforced.
Last edited by a moderator:
Sad that trust was developed and then completely violated.
OK. You forgot the 
smiley. So many people try to post sarcasm or tongue-in-cheek humor, and it just does not work without facial expression or context of a conversion.