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Templeton woman buys back stolen jewelry

September 4, 2011

A Templeton woman was excited to learn that an Atascadero pawn shop had purchased her stolen jewelry. An emotion dampened when she learned she would have to pay the shop $2,100 before she could retrieve her items. [KSBY]

Carol Morgan left her home unlocked on Wednesday while her husband worked in the barn and she ran some errands. When she returned home, she discovered someone had entered her bedroom and stolen her jewelry.

“They had looked in several places, but had taken anything gold,” Morgan told KSBY. “I felt so violated and that first night going to bed and knowing that somebody was just three feet at the foot of my bed that day — that was bad.”

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff deputies notified local pawn shops, including Atascadero Jewelry and Loan, of the theft. An employee of the shop informed deputies the next day that the shop had purchased the jewelry from Fransisco Gomez and Vern Siordia, both 19-years-olds from Paso Robles.

“I thought they’re going to give me my jewelry back, well, it doesn’t work that way,” Morgan told to KSBY.

Even though Morgan thought the shop should return her property to her at no cost, deputies told her she was mistaken.

“The pawn shop has the right to obtain monies that they have spent to take in items that were subsequently determined to be stolen,” Sergeant Anthony Perry told KSBY.

Deputies arrested Gomez and Siordia and booked them into San Luis Obispo County Jail.

Morgan’s insurance will reimburse her for $1,000 of the $2,100 she paid the pawn shop. It is possible she can also get some restitution from the state.


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Nancy remembered the All That Glitters case involving Mac McBurny doing the EXACT same thing..

except he was charged with a FELONY for RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY!


The ring in this case was stolen in Atascadero and bought buy All That Glitters in SLO.


And who pushed for prosecution in this almost identical case…. The ATASCADERO POLICE DEPTARTMENT!


Maybe the Atascadero PD doesn’t like the competition from San Luis’ All That Glitters and Atascadero Jewlery & Loan?


In other words if the stolen ring was taken to Atascadero Jewlery and pawned there then there would be NO charges and the rightful owner victim would have to buy it back!


This is pitchfork and torches time people!


http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/07/01/1201625/store-operator-arrested-in-ring.html


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I recently learned that All That Glitters in SLO may or may not have the ‘Secondhand Dealer

or Pawnbroker’ license from the State of CA.


Which, in my opinion is a “LEGAL FENCING OPERATION”.


The application form states that he applicant cannot have prior convictions for receiving stolen property.

But evidently once you get your license then ANYTHING goes!


But what about all the so called ‘estate jewlery’ sellers out there. Are they legal licensed to receive stolen property, which is evidently legal if you have the right license… which is relatively inexpensive BTW.


http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/pd/documents/SecondhandDealerhandbook.pdf


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SideshowBob is right. This is a scam (intentional or unintentional) and apparently, it is ongoing. The APD should take possession of any stolen items and have the victim come to the police station to identify it and pick it up. The Pawn Shop owner can make a claim from his insurance company to recover his costs.


The woman in the story should send a copy of these responses to the Atascadero Police Chief with a copy to the DA.


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Here are two attorney opinions from AVVO:


1) Call the Burglary squad of the police agency at issue on this case and ask to speak to the Inspector in charge of that case. It would help if you had the police dept case number, but it is not essential. Ask him or her if your stolen goods have been seized from the Pawn Shop and placed in the police evidence locker. If not, ask why not? Once they seize it, the Pawn Shop loses control and ownership and you will eventually get your stuff back, assuming you can prove it is yours. If the police have NOT seized your stuff and still refuse to, call the District Attrorney’s Office and ask to talk to the felony charging deputy. He is the one who decides what charges are filed against whom. Maybe he can get something done. If all this fails, go to the local newspaper and tell them what is going on.


@)What the police are referring to is Penal Code section 484.1 – “Any person who knowingly gives false information or provides false verification as to the person’s true identity or as to the person’s ownership interest in property or the person’s authority to sell property in order to receive money or other valuable consideration from a pawnbroker or secondhand dealer and who receives money or other valuable consideration from the pawnbroker or secondhand dealer is guilty of theft.”


The police should take the property as evidence in the theft case and list the pawnbroker as a victim as well. In my experience, the police will document the property, photograph it, then release it to the original owner.


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As I recall, the ‘police’ should seize the ‘alleged’ stolen property from the pawnshop as ‘evidence’, and hold same until the case is adjudicated. Leaving said stolen property in the ‘care’ the pawn shop risks loss/tampering of evidence to a felony.


Its was no surprise that most pawn shops I dealt with over the years knew that quite a few of their customers were less than reputable.


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I had a friend have a pool cue case and cues stolen out of their car (worth about $1200) a couple of months ago and lo and behold, found them the next day at this same pawn shop and with a local AP Officer present there, wouldn’t release his property to him without paying the pawn shop what they paid for it. The officer concurred with the shop. That place will never see my face in there ever again (unless of course I find my stolen items there and then the pawn shop and I will settle in court). Thieves themselves.


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There is NO WAY that the purchase of stolen property suddenly makes the holder the legal owner of that property. If the property is originally stolen, every transaction that follows’ is an illegitimate transaction. The APD is protecting their friends. Take it to the DA and if he doesn’t straighten out the APD who are obviously blowing it out their back ends, contact the Attorney General.


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Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Unless the law has changed, the rightful owner gets the jewelry back.


The Pawn Shop should have been suspicious of two 19 year old boys coming in to sell women’s jewelry to the tune of some $2000’s worth. They should have immediately called the police. Now the Pawn shop should be out that money.


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This has an incredibly stinky smell to it. If it was you or I that purchased these goods, we would have to give them up and the monetary loss would be ours.


This is beginning to smell similar to the extortion that towing companies are allowed to perpetrate against citizen unfortunate enough to have stolen or crashed cars recovered and stored for a period. It’s a racket and it appears the Pawn Shops are allowed to play, too.


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certainly rings a bell


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QUOTING SIDE SHOW BOB:

This has an incredibly stinky smell to it.


Welcome to San Luis Obispo County.


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Wait a damn minute. Who running this show? The pawn shop knew the jewelry was stolen therefore are they not in possession of stolen property? Why were they not cited? I would have walked in and taken my property back and they can fleck off as far as I am concerned. The pawn shop can get restitution from the thieves. What a bunch of crap Parkinson.


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This isn’t Parkinson, this is the APD running this show. There is no indication that the Jewelry and Loan knew the jewelry was stolen but they should have had an inkling that something wasn’t right.


What about the woman who had her 25K wedding ring stolen in Atascadero. The thieves tried to sell it to K-Jon’s and were turned down. K-Jon’s then called the police and the APD did nothing. Then the ring showed up at All That Glitter’s in SLO. That woman didn’t have to buy her own ring back.

What about all the stolen items that show up on e-bay? I’ve never heard of the rightful owners having to buy it back.


Can anyone imagine finding their stolen lap top, TV, stereo and DVD at a flea market and being forced to buy it from the vendor? I think that would be the ever loving end of it all for some of us (we might be the ones who ended up in jail) . Who the hell needs the police, I mean really, who needs them if this is what happens when our stolen property is found. Who are they protecting?


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I don’t believe that the pawn shop knew at the time that the jewelry was stolen.


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Somehow that doesn’t sound right. I’ve always heard that when a person is found to be in possession of stolen property that the property is confiscated and returned to it’s rightful owner. Otherwise, it makes sense that a dishonest person could commission someone to steal valuable property and then they could sell it back to the rightful owner’s all day long. Obviously that isn’t the case with Atascadero jewelry and loan but let’s face it, what were they doing purchasing $2,100 (at probably less than ½ it’s value) of woman’s jewelry from these two 19 year olds? Certainly they had to question where it came from? Seems to me that Atascadero J&L should take the loss and it’s up to them to try and recover the lost funds from the criminals.


How Atascadero J&L came by the stolen jewelry shouldn’t be the rightful owners problem, that should be the holders problem. If they have stolen property, they should have to return it to the rightful owner immediately, no strings attached. Then they have to go after whoever cheated them, in my experience (although I don’t know about stolen property), that’s how the law usually works with third parties. It goes right down the chain. I wouldn’t trust the word of the A-Town police, I would check into this further.


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