Stolen Sidekick

[Morfiend]

Wow, this sure exploded in the last few days.

http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/

Its all over the net. I almost feel bad for the thieves. But then I dont.

[WayAbvPar]

Heh I was just reading about this. I would LMAO if the military guy got busted for sending threats.

[schild]

Urrhhh wuh? It's a stolen sidekick. Great. Cell phones get stolen every day. And I'm quite sure text messages and that sort of shit happen in these scenarios every day also. What makes this one special?  Just wondering.

[Toast]

It's resonating because all of us have been victims of some kind of petty theft, be it a cell phone or a car stereo. 99% of the time,  there is no chance to catch the scum bag.

In this case, these idiots are getting their come-uppance. It's satisfying to see greedy a-holes get theirs for once.

[Abagadro]

The guy should parlay this into a "rage against people who took your shit" website.

[Sairon]

I like the one where they scamm a scammer by sending him a home made mac book better.

[Ookii]

Urrhhh wuh? It's a stolen sidekick. Great. Cell phones get stolen every day. And I'm quite sure text messages and that sort of shit happen in these scenarios every day also. What makes this one special?  Just wondering.

You have to read the site.

For example: F13.net?  There are tons of gaming websites, why the heck would I even go to that one? :-p

[ahoythematey]

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

Still a classic.

[schild]

Urrhhh wuh? It's a stolen sidekick. Great. Cell phones get stolen every day. And I'm quite sure text messages and that sort of shit happen in these scenarios every day also. What makes this one special? Just wondering.

You have to read the site.

For example: F13.net? There are tons of gaming websites, why the heck would I even go to that one? :-p

I did read the site. Or rather, the five paragraphs and whatnot and the pictures. And then I made that post.

[Margalis]

I like the original response from the person that took it: "I'm not a white bitch."

No...but you sure are a bitch.

[NiX]

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

Still a classic.

That is one great prank. More people need to wise up and do this shit.

[Fabricated]

I'm totally not getting the amount of interest this story is generating. P-p-p-powerbook was funnier and more clever in terms of internet detectivework and even it didn't deserve news coverage.

Some douchebags steal a guy's sidekick and stupidly make use of it, the guy uses pretty readily available information and dogged persistence to pester them to return it, along with making a website about it...and it gets millions of hits?

Are we that fucking bored?

[Lemming]

This reminds me of this article over at Lum's site. Ah, Internet Justice.

[Sky]

I think it's a great story. Any time some ignorant fuck gets their comeuppance, I think it's a good thing. I love stupid criminal stories.

[Strazos]

Yawn. Boring. P-P-P-Powerbook is better in both presentation and execution.

[Righ]

Are we that fucking bored?

Must be, even to post that this is boring.

[Signe]

It's not even the dog days of summer and I'm already bored. 

[ClydeJr]

Looks like its all over now. Police picked up the girl with the stolen sidekick and are charging her with possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, a misdemeanor.

[JoeTF]

So, Police got case, address of the thief, all the evidence and a legal opinion and it took them over ten days move their asses and arrest someone?
To think that few months ago someone from NYPd was here to advice our policeman how to get better.

[Broughden]

According to the website he will be on Good Morning America tomorrow morning. Anyone else going to watch it?

[schild]

I read the five or six page article in NYP or wherever it was. Fucking internet people will latch on and make a phenomenon out of anything. Meh.

[HaemishM]

I read the five or six page article in NYP or wherever it was. Fucking internet people will latch on and make a phenomenon out of anything. Meh.

Dancing baby agrees with you.

[MrHat]

Why did I read that whole thing? It's fucking 630 now.

[Krakrok]

Want to talk about stealing? Mofos want $5.99 to play Ms. Pac-Man on the Sidekick.

[CmdrSlack]

So, Police got case, address of the thief, all the evidence and a legal opinion and it took them over ten days move their asses and arrest someone?
To think that few months ago someone from NYPd was here to advice our policeman how to get better.

Well, a stolen cell phone is a bit less pressing than people being killed and whatnot.  Hell, the Chicago cops won't come out to a car accident if both vehicles are driveable.  They're too busy pulling kids over for driving while brown. 

[JoeTF]

Well, if you put it that way, maybe you should remove stealing from the penal codex allthogether. If no law enforcement agency is ever going to bother, then why threat it as a crime?
Oh, and what you say isn't a good argument for free access to guns:P

[CmdrSlack]

Well, if you put it that way, maybe you should remove stealing from the penal codex allthogether. If no law enforcement agency is ever going to bother, then why threat it as a crime?
Oh, and what you say isn't a good argument for free access to guns:P

I guess my point was that when cops are understaffed/funded, they tend to do the most pressing stuff first.  I don't think it's a great way to run things, but then again, I am not the guy making the budget either.  It's not an excuse for shitty or slow police work, but it's part of the reality, imo.

[Cheddar]

Well, if you put it that way, maybe you should remove stealing from the penal codex allthogether. If no law enforcement agency is ever going to bother, then why threat it as a crime?
Oh, and what you say isn't a good argument for free access to guns:P

I guess my point was that when cops are understaffed/funded, they tend to do the most pressing stuff first.  I don't think it's a great way to run things, but then again, I am not the guy making the budget either.  It's not an excuse for shitty or slow police work, but it's part of the reality, imo.

Its great to be a fucking American.  Not pointing fingures at anyone, but I lose faith everyday. 

[Righ]

Can't even find a decent culture to get colonized by? Ruled by effete assholes? Have an honorary Scotsman cookie.

[Koyasha]

What I find sad (but not particularly surprising) is that the police filed the report incorrectly on purpose initially, so they wouldn't have to do anything.  At all.  And seriously, do they really need detectives - plural! - for this?  They've been handed all the information, they could send a couple uniforms to go check it out, I'm sure.  Wouldn't have taken very long, and I expect they'd have found everything they needed what with being provided ALL THE INFORMATION on a silver platter.  And we are talking about a $300 phone here.  That's still a good bit of money to me, at least, and I'd like to know that if I handed the police all the information on where to get my property, they would at least send someone to investigate what I've handed them.

But I suppose this shows what has to be done if you want to get a crime investigated, huh?  Alert the internet!  And hope the internet takes favorably enough to your story to get you the attention of millions so that the law enforcement has some pressure on them to do all of their job.

[CmdrSlack]

What I find sad (but not particularly surprising) is that the police filed the report incorrectly on purpose initially, so they wouldn't have to do anything.  At all.  And seriously, do they really need detectives - plural! - for this?  They've been handed all the information, they could send a couple uniforms to go check it out, I'm sure.  Wouldn't have taken very long, and I expect they'd have found everything they needed what with being provided ALL THE INFORMATION on a silver platter.  And we are talking about a $300 phone here.  That's still a good bit of money to me, at least, and I'd like to know that if I handed the police all the information on where to get my property, they would at least send someone to investigate what I've handed them.

But I suppose this shows what has to be done if you want to get a crime investigated, huh?  Alert the internet!  And hope the internet takes favorably enough to your story to get you the attention of millions so that the law enforcement has some pressure on them to do all of their job.

Well, you know, when they do their jobs, then there's that pesky exclusionary rule too.  ;)  Also, I don't recall reading anything from that site that said the cops misfiled the info wrong the first time.  Are you just jumping to conclusions or did I miss something?  Taking the site owner's word for it that it was done wrong on purpose counts as jumping to conclusions.

I don't know why people are so shocked to see this kind of behavior from the police force of the largest city in the country.  Yeah, it sucks, but that's par for the course here in Chicago.

[Koyasha]

Well, true, I am pretty much accepting what the site owner says, but since it doesn't really surprise me - I understand the idea that a stolen phone is somehow less important than the presumably multiple homicides that day - I don't consider it a stretch to accept the idea that some of the police in New York regularly misfile 'minor' things in order to have more time for more serious crimes.

I wouldn't expect a full investigation to be launched into the theft of a $300 phone, but if most of the information is provided, I would at least hope they check out what's given to a reasonable extent.

The part I find ridiculous about this story is that after everything....they didn't press charges.  They just got the phone back.

[CmdrSlack]

Well, true, I am pretty much accepting what the site owner says, but since it doesn't really surprise me - I understand the idea that a stolen phone is somehow less important than the presumably multiple homicides that day - I don't consider it a stretch to accept the idea that some of the police in New York regularly misfile 'minor' things in order to have more time for more serious crimes.

I wouldn't expect a full investigation to be launched into the theft of a $300 phone, but if most of the information is provided, I would at least hope they check out what's given to a reasonable extent.

The part I find ridiculous about this story is that after everything....they didn't press charges.  They just got the phone back.

I thought the girl was arrested.  That's bad enough, I'd imagine.  Besides, the guy got his 15 minutes of fame.  Win-win if you ask me.