I had my pole saw stolen....really a grab & dash. Was at neighbors house, helping cut/split some firewood, my stuff was at their driveway. Someone drove by and grabbed my brand new Stihl pole saw, tossed into truck and sped off. Called cops, took report. Since it was brand new, I had my receipt which had the serial number. Gave them everything BUT, wrote the saw off mentally.
About a year later, got a call from the cops. My saw has shown up at a pawn shop, about an hour away. I can do one of two things:
1. Let it stay there (frozen as evidence since they knew who the perp was BUT, still had to catch him) and it will be given back to me after he's brought before a Judge
OR
2. I can go to pawn shop, pay the fee they gave the perp and essentially "buy it back" BUT, by doing this, I can have it "today" (or as soon as I can make it there) verses the unknown of how long will it take them to catch him.
Next day, I drove to pawn shop and paid them the $150 for it and moved on with my life. As it turned out, about 12/18 months later, I got a STATE check in the mail for $150. At this time, I had totally forgotten about the saw and my repurchase of it so was totally perplexed as to what this money from the state was for.... Then it dawned on me. They must have finally caught him, finished his legal issues and he must have paid a fine which this came from.
I specifically told the investigator when I was talking to him about this that in NO way, do I want to even hear the perp's name because if he ended up being found floating face down, I don't want any eyeballs looking my way.....because, floating face down was just about what I felt he deserved.