First off a little background. I attend the Universtity of Toledo in Ohio. We live in a 3 person apartment on the first floor. First off, me and my friend decided to goto canada to play in the casino and my other friend left to visit friends. Well at around 1am i get a call while im in the casino and our apartment had been broken into.

The somehow managed to get the locks open on the widow (standard dual pane type window) and get inside. They stole my computer, my LCD monitor, my keyboard and my thumb drive, from my friend adam they stole his LCD monitor keyboard, computer, mouse. Then my other friend his room is in back they only stole his LCD (i think they ran out of time since they forgot all the power / vga wires for his monitor) then after they made off with all this stuff they went out our front door and left it open.

Well i get this call at 1am we head home and find all this missing and i am completly flabbergasted. I dont even know what to say and how violated i feel, my computer had 7 years of family photos, music, personal documents and everything. I did have a password on it with XP but, it can be easily bypassed with a little knowhow.

The cops were able to get really good whole hand prints from the windows so i can only hope they are a repeat offender, and there fingerprints will show up.

I dont even know what to say.... im just so.. uh.. :sad:

Man sorry to hear that. Having your stuff taken sucks. I remember the feeling when my 69 Camaro was stolen. Good Luck on recovering the items. Keep checking with the cops so they follow up.

That really sucks man. A computer (hard drive) can be one of the most personal things to lose. Most people have years of data and one off files that cant be replaced. Can only hope you get some of it recovered.

You got Burglarized.... Robbed is when someone puts a gun to your head and physically forces you to hand over your wallet...

Unfortunately unless someone saw the person(s) who burglarized you a fingerprint alone won't usually get a conviction.

I'm going to assume it's someone you know.

Trouble is i dont know anybody here, ie one of the reasons i want to switch schools, because toledo is full of crime and it sucks here. My friend down the street got burglarized, also my other friend in the same complex has his radio stolen from his car. So i doubt it was somebody i know since its a pretty common occurance around here now. Also some girl the other day got held up and at the beginning of the year somebody also was held up at gunpoint.

I really hope it gets recovered since i JUST bought it, and my hard drive had many years of stuff.

One thing you might want to check on is Microsoft may be able to track those operating systems down for you.

So, how are you talking to us right now?

"You got Burglarized.... Robbed is when someone puts a gun to your head and physically forces you to hand over your wallet..."

That has happened to me at work and it's not a good feeling. Only they didn't ask for my wallet, they wanted to safe opened. So, I opened it and they took the $225 and left.

It sucks that some of us work hard and others have to be low lifes like that! I had the window on my hooch here in iraq forced open and my ipod stolen a few months back. Check around cuz it could be an inside job. The theft of my ipod and another buddys playstation and games was that way, somebody rolled on the guy and he was one of our "brothers" so we took care of it like any family would, a proper ass whooping and we then turned him into the chain of command. I hope you get your stuff back and that scum pays for thier crime.

It's an inside job.
It's either someone you know or they live very close by.
Very close. Within 1 to 2 blocks away.

You may not know them as a friend, but moreso as an acquatance or someone you have seen in passing.
They had to know what they were after. This is why they hit you. They knew what was there. They also had to know that all 3 of you would be gone, so they must have a vantage point where they can see all 3 of you leave. And they may even possibly know that when you all leave together, you are gone long enough for them to get in and out undetected.

Check all of your local pawn shops. And keep checking them daily.

If they found handprints on the windows, then these guys are not professionals.

If they found handprints on the windows, then these guys are not professionals.

Which also means no records to cross reference them with... Most Pro's have gotten collared a time or 2....

Devildog, you got robbed? was this before the enlistment in the Marines?

Unfortunately unless someone saw the person(s) who burglarized you a fingerprint alone won't usually get a conviction.

Not true in my experience. I've got plenty of convictions just from a single fingerprint.

My sons car was stolen from his driveway a couple of weeks ago. They recovered the stripped car the next day. Total loss. Police will not even bother with fingerprints. I have family who are cops and they say they do not have time to check for fingerprints anymore. No wonder insurance rates are so high.

Yep, someone close was watching. The two times I have had my places broken into it had to be someone that knew my weekly pattern and the 3-4 hour time the family would all be gone. Just a reminder for all that if you have stuff on your computer you want to save back it up, portable memory is cheap. Keep it at work, your parents house, safe deposit box, etc.

Have you notified any companies (credit, utility, banks, etc.) that might have had account numbers on the computer??? Call the credit reporting agencies and get a fraud alert put on your accounts.

Most apartment owners in college towns don't change the locks when people move in or out. The previous renters can get a spare key made and use it after they've moved out. Opening the windows draws attention from the real method of entry.

Devildog, you got robbed? was this before the enlistment in the Marines?

Leo, did you even have to ask that? Of course it was before I enlisted. Have you not seen my picture? Do you think someone would actually try and rob me now? WITH THIS MUG OF MINE? They would ask me to put the mask on MY FACE ;)

Damn im in college too and reading that scared me and my roomates were deff goin to be more careful when leave for classes now

I feel for you. Wife and I went through that a couple years back. Turns out it was a kid that my kids had had in the house a few times. My 20 year old son and a couple of his friends actually caught the guy. The police could care less. They wouldn't even talk to the neighbors or interview this kid until we could prove he did it. Keep your ears and eyes opened, most likely it will turn out to be someone that you know or that has been in the place. Even if they catch them, don't count on much. You have to prove you owned your own stuff. They treated us as if we were trying to claim more stuff as being stolen than was. In the end we got what they recovered from him and that was it. We lost thousands in collectible coins and jewelry as well as a lot of personal papers like birth certificates, deeds to property, titles for cars, etc.. that never were recovered. If you did on line banking or had any of your financial info or your SS number on your computer, you better contact your credit cards and the national credit bureaus.

The law let our guy bargain his way out of it. It was degrading and frustrating for us. It changed completely the way we look at the legal system and the police. I have little or no respect for most police officers anymore. :sad:

It takes a long time to get over, if you ever do. It does change your life. Hope it works out for you.

well, i changed all of my passwords, and this was not somebody i know the people i live with i have known since middle school, we all hang out with eachother and thats it. We put blinds in our windows, and dark curtains day 1 and never have opened them because our windows face the morning sun and street lights in the back. It was a crime of opportunity they must of seen us left and then broke in. The complex i live in is only 2 years old and we are the 2nd renteres here. I am checking the local pawn shops hoping something comes up. I also have the serial number for my LCD monitor and Motherboard but not the hard drive, video card, stuff like that. Hopefully something turns up and hopefully the prints cross reference. I am tryin to get ahold of the police deptartment too to make sure they are moving forward and doing something at least. Our landlord told us they usualy dont even take prints so im assuming they only did since it was breaking and entereing and more than 500$ stolen.

Hopefully something happens, ill keep you all in formed. Oddly, the day this happend 2 black males in a car i have never seen here before pulled up in a parking spot right by our window got out and looked around for a bit looked at us since we were sitting in that room (the blinds were down but opened aiming upwards) and then they sat in their car then left. I bet money it was them so next time i see this car if ever im going to get the plate.

THanks for your support.

Tom

First off a little background. I attend the Universtity of Toledo in Ohio. We live in a 3 person apartment on the first floor. First off, me and my friend decided to goto canada to play in the casino and my other friend left to visit friends. Well at around 1am i get a call while im in the casino and our apartment had been broken into.

The somehow managed to get the locks open on the widow (standard dual pane type window) and get inside. They stole my computer, my LCD monitor, my keyboard and my thumb drive, from my friend adam they stole his LCD monitor keyboard, computer, mouse. Then my other friend his room is in back they only stole his LCD (i think they ran out of time since they forgot all the power / vga wires for his monitor) then after they made off with all this stuff they went out our front door and left it open.

Well i get this call at 1am we head home and find all this missing and i am completly flabbergasted. I dont even know what to say and how violated i feel, my computer had 7 years of family photos, music, personal documents and everything. I did have a password on it with XP but, it can be easily bypassed with a little knowhow.

The cops were able to get really good whole hand prints from the windows so i can only hope they are a repeat offender, and there fingerprints will show up.

I dont even know what to say.... im just so.. uh.. :sad:

sorry to hear this..

two words
renters insurance

A few stats and don't feel like the Lone Ranger here, 90% of the time it's someone that knows you not that they have to be friends they just know what you have. They always case you out so if you see someone hanging around watch your back and they normally get rid of a dog at that time too so it will come up missing a few days before the hit. 85% of the time it will be someone thats broke and on drugs especially if they have a family thats barley being taken care of.
When you meet them again they will be real nervous around you.
Most of them know about pawn shops since they ID you and thats the first place the cops look they just sell them on the street for $25 bucks so they can get another hit.

Leo, did you even have to ask that? Of course it was before I enlisted. Have you not seen my picture? Do you think someone would actually try and rob me now? WITH THIS MUG OF MINE? They would ask me to put the mask on MY FACE ;)


OK, I didn't think someone would be dumb enough to try to rob a Marine.

Eventually the pot is going to boil over and when familys and victims find out who did what they did. The victims themselves will take thier own course of action to serve justice to the guy, no matter if its legal or not. Seems people are loosing faith in law enforcement and/or the court system. I honestly cant blame them. I agree with Prof. SS. I have seen some very rediculous situations happen before and the cops did jack squat and almost made it as if the victim was making everything out to be bigger then it really was. Some law enforcement that is.:mad:

Sorry to hear of your loss. I hope it all works out for you.

Imagine having your house raided by the police....All to find out they were looking for a guy that had rented the townhouse the previous lease and had moved out months before the owner leased it out to us....This is exactly what happened to me. I was even taken downtown (literally by the way, we live in western subs) and questioned. Dont ask me what my feeling is towards the way cops uphold the law either.:sad:

Me and all my roomates had no choice but to walk home 15 miles that night after they released us. They conviscated our wallets and cell phones so we had no money to call anyone for a ride. Good thing it was a nice summer evening.:mad:

The law let our guy bargain his way out of it. It was degrading and frustrating for us. It changed completely the way we look at the legal system and the police. I have little or no respect for most police officers anymore. :sad:

Sorry you feel this way but believe me I get just as frustrated with all the plea bargining. I feel like I do my job by getting the bad guy arrested and when the case goes to court the bad guy gets nothing. Although, in the police academy we were told our job was done at the arrest. We have nothing to do with what goes on in court. I've had numerous arguments with the AG's for pleaing to something I didn't agree with. Sometimes I wonder why I do this job. Heck, the criminals have more rights than the victim anymore.

Sorry you feel this way but believe me I get just as frustrated with all the plea bargining. I feel like I do my job by getting the bad guy arrested and when the case goes to court the bad guy gets nothing. Although, in the police academy we were told our job was done at the arrest. We have nothing to do with what goes on in court. I've had numerous arguments with the AG's for pleaing to something I didn't agree with. Sometimes I wonder why I do this job. Heck, the criminals have more rights than the victim anymore.


Yea, I'm sure you do. And in all honesty I know cops deal with so many of these people that it is just another day at the office for them. But you guys and gals have to remember that for those of us that live quite lives this is a major deal. I came home to find the place was broken into. I called the police. It took several hours for them to show up. The first thing out of the guys mouth was that he was in a hurry as his shift was ending and he was starting his vacation. While waiting for the cop I talked to the neighbors and one told us he saw a small dark blue neon backed up in the drive and that it didn't have a front plate. In Maryland we have front plates so folks notice cars without them. Most are PA or WVA cars. This one later turned out to be one that is a MD car but missing a front plate. He knew it was a neon because his daughter owns one. I couldn't even get the cop to go over and talk to the neighbor, he told me to have the guy call the dispatcher and tell him his story. The cop didn't attempt to take any finger prints or photos of the scene or anything. Later when my son and his friend ID'd the guy and handed him to the cops on a plater, I was run through the ringer over my guns. The local sheriff wanted me to prove I owned them (most of which I have had since I was a teenager one was left to me by my granddad when he died in 1976). I Had to jump through several hoops to get my own guns back. Then when we listed the coin collection and savings bonds as items stolen the cop told me that the kid claimed he didn't take any savings bonds or coins because he thought he'd have to show ID to cash the bonds. Then he said, the kid confessed to the robbery so he had no reason to lie about the bonds and coins and jewelry that wasn't recovered. So then I pointed out that the kid apparently claimed he saw the bonds and coins, since he claimed he didn't take them, but that they are now gone, so someone took them. The cop's response was that he was convinced that the kid didn't take them and that I should look around the house and in my son's room to "make sure we didn't misplace them." If he hadn't been a cop at that moment, I'd have escorted him off my property in the most unfriendly manner.

Lets just say, that if I rolled up on that particular cop being beaten in the street by a gang, I'd call the police to tell them he needs some assistance, but I'd wait till I got home to do it.

So then I pointed out that the kid apparently claimed he saw the bonds and coins, since he claimed he didn't take them, but that they are now gone, so someone took them. Same F'n thing happened when we had two dirt bikes stolen out of my shed--one mine, one my buddies. Well they found the thief, and recovered my buddy's bike in pieces. But the response was that they couldn't prosecute the thief for my bike since it wasn't recovered. :angry: I see, so this guy steals my bike, then because he broke into my shed, someone else stole mine?
Sometimes I definitely think it's better to shoot first and ask questions later.

Yea, I'm sure you do. And in all honesty I know cops deal with so many of these people that it is just another day at the office for them. But you guys and gals have to remember that for those of us that live quite lives this is a major deal. I came home to find the place was broken into. I called the police. It took several hours for them to show up. The first thing out of the guys mouth was that he was in a hurry as his shift was ending and he was starting his vacation. While waiting for the cop I talked to the neighbors and one told us he saw a small dark blue neon backed up in the drive and that it didn't have a front plate. In Maryland we have front plates so folks notice cars without them. Most are PA or WVA cars. This one later turned out to be one that is a MD car but missing a front plate. He knew it was a neon because his daughter owns one. I couldn't even get the cop to go over and talk to the neighbor, he told me to have the guy call the dispatcher and tell him his story. The cop didn't attempt to take any finger prints or photos of the scene or anything. Later when my son and his friend ID'd the guy and handed him to the cops on a plater, I was run through the ringer over my guns. The local sheriff wanted me to prove I owned them (most of which I have had since I was a teenager one was left to me by my granddad when he died in 1976). I Had to jump through several hoops to get my own guns back. Then when we listed the coin collection and savings bonds as items stolen the cop told me that the kid claimed he didn't take any savings bonds or coins because he thought he'd have to show ID to cash the bonds. Then he said, the kid confessed to the robbery so he had no reason to lie about the bonds and coins and jewelry that wasn't recovered. So then I pointed out that the kid apparently claimed he saw the bonds and coins, since he claimed he didn't take them, but that they are now gone, so someone took them. The cop's response was that he was convinced that the kid didn't take them and that I should look around the house and in my son's room to "make sure we didn't misplace them." If he hadn't been a cop at that moment, I'd have escorted him off my property in the most unfriendly manner.

Lets just say, that if I rolled up on that particular cop being beaten in the street by a gang, I'd call the police to tell them he needs some assistance, but I'd wait till I got home to do it.

The only thing I can say to this is WOW!!!!! I would say a complaint was in order. If it's a felony, we fingerprint. As far as response time, it has taken me hours to respond to a burglary which doesn't make the complainant happy but we are extremely understaffed. I always feel bad but what can I do.

"renters insurance" i have it deductable is 1000$ they stole 1200 dollars waste of my time and money.

Im checking around pawn shops or anywhere i really o nly want the hard drive back.

Its the worst feeling ever.

In all honesty i was thinking about posting a sign that said ill give 200$ for my HDD back lol

Sorry you feel this way but believe me I get just as frustrated with all the plea bargining. I feel like I do my job by getting the bad guy arrested and when the case goes to court the bad guy gets nothing. Although, in the police academy we were told our job was done at the arrest. We have nothing to do with what goes on in court. I've had numerous arguments with the AG's for pleaing to something I didn't agree with. Sometimes I wonder why I do this job. Heck, the criminals have more rights than the victim anymore.

Part of the problem is the politicians are making around 1000 new laws a year, when Clinton was in office there were 8000 new laws passed in 8 years now how is anyone suppose to stay out of jail or prosecute all of that?

And the cops get me, it seems that the biggest law that can be broken is speeding or is that just the easiest target? Business large and small are having to staff attorneys just to be able to keep up with all of them example: I was fined $600 dollars last month for a bad EPA report that I had to pay to have done in 1992! I think the only thing your going to see a response from will be something they can make money off of.

When my friends Shop was burglarized he lost $30,000 + worth of equipment and laptops. The police took no prints would not look at the fence they cut or even the door they kicked down.

Absolutely worthless.