Mermen Gear theft update ...

CancerLeoCam · October 18th, 2005, 05:59 PM

If anybody can help out legally I'm sure Jim, Jennifer and Martyn would appreciate your help. This affects us all.

let them know if you can: mermen@earthlink.net

831.464.3979

--Jim Thomas sent this email out and I thought I'd forward it to the TDPRI.
****************************************
Greetings to all our friends,

The Big news and not all good is that after no news about any of our gear for 5 months, a substantial portion of our stolen equipment has begun surfacing in Kalispell, Montana. We are sharing this information with you all because if you think that getting your gear stolen is a hassle, trying to get it back can be more of a headache and further we may need some from help from some of you out there with ideas as we don't want to spend huge money on legal fees trying to get our gear back. Here is the story:

Apparently a person from Las Vegas transported much of the gear from Las Vegas to Kalispell , Montana and over the past few months has been selling the gear to music stores and pawn shops there. We only found out about this because three weeks ago a person bought Martyn's drumset from xxx in Kalispell with the MERMEN painting/logo on it and looked our name up on the internet. He immediatly called us informing us that much of our gear has been sold out of that particular store, and further that the guy selling the stuff is still on the loose in the Kalispell area. And, even after receiving the formal GRAND LARCENY report from Las Vegas, the police have not arrested him regarding his selling our stolen equipment. The person who bought the drumset told me that his band purchased one of Jennifers SVT heads, 1 of my Fender Showman heads, and some pedals. Jones music sold one of my Fender Strats , Jennifer's Fender Jazz precision and who knows what else. xxx in Kalispell has sold one of my racks with an ECHOPLEX, LXP-15, KORG TUNER, RANE mixer.

xxx still has a substantial amount of the gear: only informing me what they had after I threatened the owner with legal action ....

Now the problem is is that after 3 weeks we get llittle effort from either the KALISPELL police or the owner of xxxxx ,and, the police seem uncooperative and even a bit hostile towards us. They keep turning our case over to detictives that go on vacation. 3 detectives in 3 weeks. Our input regarding whys and wherefors regarding this situation there does not seem to matter to them.

A particular detective told me(Jim) that they didn't want Jennifer callling them on the phone any more. I told this detective that we spent a total of 20 minutes on the phone with them concerning this theft and asked him what is he talking about. I had a conference call with the Owner of xxxxxx and a detective from Kalispell... they both got very defensive and hostile when I questioned the owner of the music store for not doing more research regarding who owned the gear and selling it so cheap , and buying it from a shady character, who he initially called a "good" customer. I asked the dectective/police if there are any regulations and legal documentaion required in Montana regarding the buying and selling of used music gear in Montana and they make no effort to thelp us regarding this info. We are very suspicious.
We have heard that the guy who owns the music store is very friendly with the police and we are wondering why we never found out about any of this gear as they bought it in a large chunk and as there were MERMEN stickers all over the guitars, basses and cases There were even flight cases with airline tags with our addresses on them.
xxxxxx was buying and selling the stuff cheap. So we are suspicious of the whole deal. NOW THE HELP WE NEED :if anyone can help with the following information:

WHAT ARE THE LAWS IN MONTANA regarding the buying and selling of used gear? Is documentation neccessary, Is there a 30 day hold like in California?

The owner of xxxxxx and the Kalispell police are telling us we have to buy our stolen gear back. They are telling us it is our responsibility to buy this stuff back from the customers he sold our stuff too. I mean this is our gear that was stolen from us and these people are making profit from us. So if anyone out there can help us with any ideas we would appreciate it.

Thanks and regards, Jim , Jennifer, Martyn/MERMEN

Maggot · October 18th, 2005, 06:28 PM

Sounds incredibly shady to me. There's got to be a lawyer in Montana who's a big Mermen fan and will bust some balls for a few minutes on the house... I've never heard of anyone having to buy back their own stolen goods from a pawnshop.

mark norwine · October 18th, 2005, 09:10 PM

Buy it back? Nonsense.

In most states, possession of stolen goods is...all by itself....a criminal offense, regardless of the lack of malice involved in obtaining it.

Call the Montana Attorney General's office, and discuss the police department’s complicity in this crime. You'll get their attention.

Maggot · October 19th, 2005, 01:34 AM

I took about 5 seconds to look up the Montana laws about possession of stolen property on Lexis-Nexis.

Anyone who "exerts unauthorized control over the property of another... and purposely uses, conceals or abandons the property, knowing that the use, concealment or abondonment probably will deprive the owner of the property" is guilty of theft. Mont. Code Anno. 45-6-301 (2005). Any Montana lawyers in the Mermen fan base? A threatening letter from a lawyer would help.

I like the idea of calling the Attorney General's office. Also write a letter to the local paper and name names. CC it to the interested parties. It may not do any good (or even get printed), but the more you seem like you're going to be a persistent pain in the ass, the less legal help you'll need.

Tim Armstrong · October 19th, 2005, 01:57 AM

One other idea: call the FBI. After all, the thieves transported your stolen gear across state lines, which is a federal crime.

Your tax dollars, might as well make 'em work for you!

Tim

tdu · October 19th, 2005, 06:26 AM

So hasn't anyone pursued the guy who actually stole the stuff? If he has been driving around there selling the stuff to people, someone obviously knows who he is. It won't get your gear back,but they guy should be busted.

CancerLeoCam · October 21st, 2005, 09:22 PM

heard recently that the press, fans, news people and FBI threw such a big spotlight on them that they are now getting things to happen. The guy is still out on the loose from my last check-in with them...

e-merlin · November 4th, 2005, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark norwine

Buy it back? Nonsense.

In some states you do have to reimburse a pawn shop the money they paid for your stolen merchandise if you want it back, and then get your money from the thief. I faced this situation in my home town in Kansas.

CancerLeoCam · November 4th, 2005, 10:43 PM

...does a serious beating with a bat constitute restitution?

October 18th, 2005, 05:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
CancerLeoCam Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mule Deer-Mt. Lion Safari, CA Posts: 1,663 5 Photos	Mermen Gear theft update ... If anybody can help out legally I'm sure Jim, Jennifer and Martyn would appreciate your help. This affects us all. let them know if you can: mermen@earthlink.net 831.464.3979 --Jim Thomas sent this email out and I thought I'd forward it to the TDPRI. **************************************** Greetings to all our friends, The Big news and not all good is that after no news about any of our gear for 5 months, a substantial portion of our stolen equipment has begun surfacing in Kalispell, Montana. We are sharing this information with you all because if you think that getting your gear stolen is a hassle, trying to get it back can be more of a headache and further we may need some from help from some of you out there with ideas as we don't want to spend huge money on legal fees trying to get our gear back. Here is the story: Apparently a person from Las Vegas transported much of the gear from Las Vegas to Kalispell , Montana and over the past few months has been selling the gear to music stores and pawn shops there. We only found out about this because three weeks ago a person bought Martyn's drumset from xxx in Kalispell with the MERMEN painting/logo on it and looked our name up on the internet. He immediatly called us informing us that much of our gear has been sold out of that particular store, and further that the guy selling the stuff is still on the loose in the Kalispell area. And, even after receiving the formal GRAND LARCENY report from Las Vegas, the police have not arrested him regarding his selling our stolen equipment. The person who bought the drumset told me that his band purchased one of Jennifers SVT heads, 1 of my Fender Showman heads, and some pedals. Jones music sold one of my Fender Strats , Jennifer's Fender Jazz precision and who knows what else. xxx in Kalispell has sold one of my racks with an ECHOPLEX, LXP-15, KORG TUNER, RANE mixer. xxx still has a substantial amount of the gear: only informing me what they had after I threatened the owner with legal action .... Now the problem is is that after 3 weeks we get llittle effort from either the KALISPELL police or the owner of xxxxx ,and, the police seem uncooperative and even a bit hostile towards us. They keep turning our case over to detictives that go on vacation. 3 detectives in 3 weeks. Our input regarding whys and wherefors regarding this situation there does not seem to matter to them. A particular detective told me(Jim) that they didn't want Jennifer callling them on the phone any more. I told this detective that we spent a total of 20 minutes on the phone with them concerning this theft and asked him what is he talking about. I had a conference call with the Owner of xxxxxx and a detective from Kalispell... they both got very defensive and hostile when I questioned the owner of the music store for not doing more research regarding who owned the gear and selling it so cheap , and buying it from a shady character, who he initially called a "good" customer. I asked the dectective/police if there are any regulations and legal documentaion required in Montana regarding the buying and selling of used music gear in Montana and they make no effort to thelp us regarding this info. We are very suspicious. We have heard that the guy who owns the music store is very friendly with the police and we are wondering why we never found out about any of this gear as they bought it in a large chunk and as there were MERMEN stickers all over the guitars, basses and cases There were even flight cases with airline tags with our addresses on them. xxxxxx was buying and selling the stuff cheap. So we are suspicious of the whole deal. NOW THE HELP WE NEED :if anyone can help with the following information: WHAT ARE THE LAWS IN MONTANA regarding the buying and selling of used gear? Is documentation neccessary, Is there a 30 day hold like in California? The owner of xxxxxx and the Kalispell police are telling us we have to buy our stolen gear back. They are telling us it is our responsibility to buy this stuff back from the customers he sold our stuff too. I mean this is our gear that was stolen from us and these people are making profit from us. So if anyone out there can help us with any ideas we would appreciate it. Thanks and regards, Jim , Jennifer, Martyn/MERMEN __________________ Everyone's your buddy when they want you or something from you. If you're not willing to work for free why should somebody else?

October 18th, 2005, 06:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
Maggot Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Durham, NC Posts: 735 1 Photos	Sounds incredibly shady to me. There's got to be a lawyer in Montana who's a big Mermen fan and will bust some balls for a few minutes on the house... I've never heard of anyone having to buy back their own stolen goods from a pawnshop. __________________ www.myspace.com/feierman

October 19th, 2005, 01:34 AM	#4 (permalink)
Maggot Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Durham, NC Posts: 735 1 Photos	I took about 5 seconds to look up the Montana laws about possession of stolen property on Lexis-Nexis. Anyone who "exerts unauthorized control over the property of another... and purposely uses, conceals or abandons the property, knowing that the use, concealment or abondonment probably will deprive the owner of the property" is guilty of theft. Mont. Code Anno. 45-6-301 (2005). Any Montana lawyers in the Mermen fan base? A threatening letter from a lawyer would help. I like the idea of calling the Attorney General's office. Also write a letter to the local paper and name names. CC it to the interested parties. It may not do any good (or even get printed), but the more you seem like you're going to be a persistent pain in the ass, the less legal help you'll need. __________________ www.myspace.com/feierman

October 19th, 2005, 01:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
Tim Armstrong Moderator Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Berlin, Maryland, USA Age: 49 Posts: 9,550	One other idea: call the FBI. After all, the thieves transported your stolen gear across state lines, which is a federal crime. Your tax dollars, might as well make 'em work for you! Tim __________________ http://www.moodswingers.org

October 19th, 2005, 06:26 AM	#6 (permalink)
tdu Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Age: 32 Posts: 2,433 11 Photos	So hasn't anyone pursued the guy who actually stole the stuff? If he has been driving around there selling the stuff to people, someone obviously knows who he is. It won't get your gear back,but they guy should be busted. __________________ Torn Down Units brand Rock n' Roll My Solo Stuff:

October 18th, 2005, 09:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
mark norwine Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: New Jersey Age: 50 Posts: 1,381	Buy it back? Nonsense. In most states, possession of stolen goods is...all by itself....a criminal offense, regardless of the lack of malice involved in obtaining it. Call the Montana Attorney General's office, and discuss the police department’s complicity in this crime. You'll get their attention.

October 21st, 2005, 09:22 PM	#7 (permalink)
CancerLeoCam Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mule Deer-Mt. Lion Safari, CA Posts: 1,663 5 Photos	the popo are finally getting involved... heard recently that the press, fans, news people and FBI threw such a big spotlight on them that they are now getting things to happen. The guy is still out on the loose from my last check-in with them... __________________ Everyone's your buddy when they want you or something from you. If you're not willing to work for free why should somebody else?

November 4th, 2005, 10:43 PM	#9 (permalink)
CancerLeoCam Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mule Deer-Mt. Lion Safari, CA Posts: 1,663 5 Photos	if you can't get your money from the thief..... ...does a serious beating with a bat constitute restitution? __________________ Everyone's your buddy when they want you or something from you. If you're not willing to work for free why should somebody else?