A 484 Charles Dickens Story

 

Christmas is coming, so get your Christmas shoplifting done early. I know I’m somewhat cynical, and definitely acerbic; let’s chalk that up to my street education as a cop. Father Flanigan was wrong, there is such a thing as a bad boy, and there are some people that Will Rogers never met. Come to think of it some of my pysch, and sociology professors were rather clueless about human behavior.

Christmas time is when the Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, is read and presented on television. I never ran into the ghost of Christmas past on the streets. That’s a problem for a homicide detective or the cold case unit. I did, however, run into a character from Oliver Twist, Fagin.

If you have read Oliver Twist, written by Charles Dickens you’ll know who Fagin is. For those of you that haven’t read Oliver Twist;

Fagin is a fictional character in Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a “receiver of stolen goods”. He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates among them) whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities, in exchange for shelter. – from Wikipedia

One December night I was driving through a pretty rough residential neighborhood looking for gangsters creeping through residential side streets. They aren’t speeding, but they drive slowly with their lights off looking for some retribution, like shooting at another gangster sitting on their front porch, or firing shots through a front window. I was flagged down by a woman in her fifties so I stopped the car, rolled down the window and informed the dispatcher I would be out with one, and gave the dispatcher my location.

She told me she had something in her garage she wanted to show me. I was hoping it wasn’t a body. I did carry a jar of Vicks in my warbag. A Vicks smear underneath your nose works on those welfare checks when you find someone that has been dead for several days in their house, or apartment. What a great job.

There was nobody there, but there were about 25 keyboards, monitors, and word processors on the garage floor. She told me her brother had stolen them, and she was tired of her house being used to store whatever he steals. I asked her if there was anything else stored around the house that I should know about. The answer was no. I asked for her brother’s name and she gave me his name. She was a candidate for the good sister of the year award; she wanted him arrested.

I wrote a property receipt for each item, and each item had the same sticker with the same name of an office supply store in an adjoining city. I filled the trunk of my police car and headed for the property room. After I deposited the items in the property room I called the records division of the city where the store was located. A harried voice told me they were swamped. Friday and Saturday nights are busy nights, and the records division is swamped with assigning case numbers for everything from burglaries to assaults.

I made photocopies of the property receipt numbers and I checked the box asking that my Incident Report be forwarded to the city in which the burglary occurred. The next morning I called the office supply store. I gave them the property receipt numbers and told them to contact their police department.

A few weeks later I had a note in my precinct mailbox to contact a detective in the adjoining city. He thanked me, and then filled me in on the full story. Our burglar would punch a hole into the side of a commercial building and then push kids into the building to steal items, kids that were 7 to 10years oldd.

I met Fagin in court one afternoon. He was cleaned up for the jury. He changed his plea to guilty after a jury was selected.

Epilogue

Sometimes you have to go the extra mile as a cop. I owed that to his sister. I saw her obituary in the paper, and I attended her funeral. It was a small gathering, and some family members were curious about me. I told them that she was a good person, and that I knew her. I left it at that.

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  1. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    I did that once, told on a step-brother. My then husband had hired brother to work for him. We gave him a room in our house, feed him, even gave him use of my husband’s pick-up truck. After a month or so, brother was doing so well at the job, husband was considering making brother his foreman. Then one morning husband got to work early and found his office had been burgled, with some special items taken that nobody knew was there except my husband and step-brother. Step-brother was gone with his personal items from the house and his car. There were tracks in the mud outside my husband’s office, I recognized as the tires of my step-brother’s car. I told the sheriff where bro could be found in Sacramento. He was arrested and spent several years in jail. He never forgave me for telling on him, but then I never got over the feeling of being betrayed by him. I later also found some things missing from our house.

    • #1
  2. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    WFIW

    Wife: I wouldn’t shoplift in any place but Boston.

    Me: It’s legal there.

    Wife: Right.  :)

    • #2
  3. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Doug Watt: Our burglar would punch a hole into the side of a commercial building and then push kids into the building to steal items. Kids that were 7 to 10 years-old.

    Special, so special.

    • #3
  4. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    You don’t have to make as big a hole for a small child as you would for an adult. Very practical.

    We used that concept for good once when we locked ourselves out of our house. One sliding glass door was open about 7 inches, with a positive lock to prevent it opening farther. We sent our then-young child through that tiny opening to get him to open the front door and let us into our house.

    • #4
  5. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Here’s a tale of my MLB travels.

    There were always autograph hounds in the lobbies of the hotels we stayed at and the players were always more obliging to the kids than the adults. One year, early in the season, we were in Baltimore. Some jackwagon went down to the local elementary school, convinced a bunch of boys to get into his van and brought them to the Inner Harbor to do his bidding.

    One of the hotel employees became suspicious of having a group of kids in the lobby on a school day and when she questioned one of the boys he spilled the beans. They were promised $20 apiece and lunch from McDonald’s. In fact, the perp was making his lunch run at that moment. 

    When he returned he was greeted by the cops. Thank God all he wanted was autographs. Those boys could have easily signed their own death warrants or something just as horrific. And the players know these kind of things go on, which is why they are more likely to oblige an autograph request at the park than anywhere else. Better yet, they’ve found that taking a picture is quicker, is more personalized and has no resale value whatsoever. 

    • #5
  6. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    How do you ‘punch a hole’ into the side of a commercial building? It must be difficult for family members to turn someone in – that woman had courage and decency. Kay of MT – what a shame – sometimes you need the nerves of a saint to put up with some people..

    • #6
  7. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    How do you ‘punch a hole’ into the side of a commercial building?

    I can think of several ways. The fastest would involve a fairly well armored vehicle and a knowledge of construction techniques to get the soft spot.

    • #7
  8. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    How do you ‘punch a hole’ into the side of a commercial building?

    Chainsaws work great on wood and steel.  Or else the right front quarter panel of your truck.  Beyond that, I’d like to know, myself.

    • #8
  9. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    How do you ‘punch a hole’ into the side of a commercial building?

    Chainsaws work great on wood and steel. Or else the right front quarter panel of your truck. Beyond that, I’d like to know, myself.

    He chose small stores with cinderblock walls. He looked for targets that had entry alarms, and avoided stores that had motion detectors as well entry alarms. Bypassing doors and windows gave him the extra time he needed to complete a burglary. 

     

    • #9
  10. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    He chose small stores with cinderblock walls.

    So, a sledge hammer?

    • #10
  11. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Kay of MT (View Comment):

    I did that once, told on a step-brother. My then husband had hired brother to work for him. We gave him a room in our house, feed him, even gave him use of my husband’s pick-up truck. After a month or so, brother was doing so well at the job, husband was considering making brother his foreman. Then one morning husband got to work early and found his office had been burgled, with some special items taken that nobody knew was there except my husband and step-brother. Step-brother was gone with his personal items from the house and his car. There were tracks in the mud outside my husband’s office, I recognized as the tires of my step-brother’s car. I told the sheriff where bro could be found in Sacramento. He was arrested and spent several years in jail. He never forgave me for telling on him, but then I never got over the feeling of being betrayed by him. I later also found some things missing from our house.

    He betrayed first.

    Order is important.

    • #11
  12. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    How do you ‘punch a hole’ into the side of a commercial building?

    I can think of several ways. The fastest would involve a fairly well armored vehicle and a knowledge of construction techniques to get the soft spot.

    It doesn’t have to be armored. Fix a beak to the frame and give it a few whacks.

    Not that I’ve ever contemplated such a thing.

    • #12
  13. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    Doug Watt: I saw her obituary in the paper, and I attended her funeral. It was a small gathering, and some family members were curious about me. I told them that she was a good person, and that I knew her. I left it at that.

    I’m guessing bro wasn’t there.

    • #13
  14. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Percival (View Comment):
    Not that I’ve ever contemplated such a thing.

    No, not you.

    • #14
  15. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Kay of MT – what a shame – sometimes you need the nerves of a saint to put up with some people..

    @frontseatcat and @percival

    We had done a lot for this young man, but he had been in Vietnam on several missions, had an entire load of Agent Orange dumped on him, so had a lot of medical problems. At that time our government refused to admit that Agent Orange caused any problems. He was in all kinds of pain, used drugs, etc. as he couldn’t get approval for medical care. In our ignorance, we thought all he needed to get back on track was a good job, healthy place to live, car, etc. He promised not to bring drugs into our home. I think he honestly tried for the first few months. The temptation for all that expensive equipment in an office he had access to, was too much. He died a hard death, cancer in every organ in his body including bones.

    In addition to stealing expensive equipment from my husband, later when Kaylett was grown, he took a tire iron to my car that had broken down on the freeway. Kaylett walked off the freeway to call me, and to get a tow truck, but he happened to drive by and recognized my car. He completely destroyed it, as his anger was so great. I let it go, didn’t turn him in on that, but I also did not attend his funeral.

    • #15
  16. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    He chose small stores with cinderblock walls.

    So, a sledge hammer?

    I’m not sure what tools he might have used. My part in the story was limited to recovering the stolen items, and making sure that the info was passed along to the store, and burglary detectives. I was subpoenaed to testify about the chain of custody of the items, and that his name was provided to me by his sister.

     

    • #16
  17. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Percival (View Comment):
    It doesn’t have to be armored. Fix a beak to the frame and give it a few whacks.

    Nick-nack paddy whacks?

    • #17
  18. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Kay of MT (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Kay of MT – what a shame – sometimes you need the nerves of a saint to put up with some people..

    @frontseatcat and @percival

    We had done a lot for this young man, but he had been in Vietnam on several missions, had an entire load of Agent Orange dumped on him, so had a lot of medical problems. At that time our government refused to admit that Agent Orange caused any problems. He was in all kinds of pain, used drugs, etc. as he couldn’t get approval for medical care. In our ignorance, we thought all he needed to get back on track was a good job, healthy place to live, car, etc. He promised not to bring drugs into our home. I think he honestly tried for the first few months. The temptation for all that expensive equipment in an office he had access to, was too much. He died a hard death, cancer in every organ in his body including bones.

    In addition to stealing expensive equipment from my husband, later when Kaylett was grown, he took a tire iron to my car that had broken down on the freeway. Kaylett walked off the freeway to call me, and to get a tow truck, but he happened to drive by and recognized my car. He completely destroyed it, as his anger was so great. I let it go, didn’t turn him in on that, but I also did not attend his funeral.

    Wow – no words.  Horrible suffering.

    • #18
  19. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Wow – no words. Horrible suffering.

    Yes, he had eminence suffering and anger. I think the destruction of my car, was not only mad at me from years before but for all the anger at our government, lack of health care, pain, and he now had a daughter of his own, and thought there would be no benefits for her. They finally had him in a hospital and was IV morphine to him before he died. The car was old and not much value, so hope he got some of his rage out.

    • #19
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