Question of conscience - what would you have done?

You did the right thing. I have a couple of questions though. One, how do you know that the cell # she gave you as her # wasn't the cell of someone else who had their phone stolen? Two, weren't you the least bit suspicious that someone she knew was calling her on YOUR phone?? The fact the phone she initially showed you wasn't yours makes me think she might have a couple of stolen phones and mixed yours up with someone elses. That part makes sense, don't you think?

Well I dont of course. Thats what the police pointed out too. Still, giving someone the phone number at which you can be personally reached at the moment doesnt seem like a hardened criminal's behaviour. But in any case, I'm not here to defend or accuse her. I was here to see how other people would have reacted and whether I'd be the only one to kinda feel an ambivalence about it.

The police and a colleague or two were immediately like - well, like g__day here. But I guess for Anastasia, or for me even ... well, you know, this kinda thing doesnt look as black-and-white. I wonder what quinn would say, for example. Or Slappy, even.


No, the opposite really. Remember, this wasnt my stolen phone she had bought that I was being called on. When we arranged to meet at the gas station, she gave me her # and I gave her "mine" - that is, the number of Anastasia's phone that I had borrowed for the occasion (which is mine too, in fact, but nemmind). So mostly I was surprised when someone was on the phone, and then I thought it was just kinda funny in a bizarre way. I guess she'd told someone what she went out for, and that somebody had started thinking "where the heck she gone too" when she hadnt come back after a couple of hours. But thats just a random guess.


Yeh, could be. First thing I thought of, personally, when I thought about it, was: oh, she musta liked my phone better than her own, so she switched simcards. That would make sense too.

nimh, you are far too nice for this world !! I would have given that lady a piece of my mind for buying my phone, and then reported her to the police by personally naming her in my complaint !

hehhehheh ... well, i did only have a first name and a streetname ... <grins> ... besides, i wanted my phone back first, hello! ;-)

anyway, i got her in jail for the night (at least) - i guess thats worse than being "personally named in my complaint"!

Nimh--

The perp seems to have a fairly distinctive MO--to use the jargon. How many cat burglars are there who slip through tiny windows into rooms where people are sleeping and help themselves to clothing?

Perhaps you're complaint is one of many that the police have received about this Daring Dude? Perhaps the police are worried about what happens if one of the homeowners/apartment dwellers wakes up?
Perhaps one of them has woken up recently and suffered personal harm?

You fingered the lady--but dealing in stolen goods is a criminal offense. She made her choices, you made yours and there's an end on it.

Hi nimh,

I would definitely feel ambivalent, yes. That's not a value judgement -- I think you did the only reasonable thing that could have been done. But yeah, I'd keep worrying about whether she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and had done some not-that-well-thought-out things (buying a cell phone in a pub) but nothing worth spending the night in jail.

I say this to answer your question, the meta-question, but my immediate reaction to the situation as told is to reassure you that you did the right thing, the reasonable thing, and that while it might have been wrong place and wrong time it might have also been something far more nefarious. Maybe she was trying to lure you into something else, and the presence of the police put a stop to that. A scam, further robbery. Maybe she's the girlfriend of the thief, and they caught him through her. Maybe she WAS the thief, sans high tottery heels. Unlikely, yes, but you can't know, hence the need to give all pertinent info to the police and let them sort it out.

On an aside - I was in the local paper! Apparently. Heh. Friend of Anastasia's came with the (one-paragraph) item.

About how "a man decided to give calling his own number a try" after his cellphone was stolen during a burglary, and how "the woman who picked up the phone was prepared to make an appointment on the M....-street." "The police apprehended the 26-year old woman." Twentysix, huh?

Fait divers ...

In the paper and everything.

Since you seem to be comfortable with the meta-ness, to take it further --

I think a lot of this stuff is in how it is presented; you and Anastasia were there and experiencing it, but there is no way to relate a story as complicated as this completely objectively. I think that if you had expressed no remorse at all, or if say you said something about that she looked suspicious, that you could just tell she belonged in jail, there would be those of us who would leap to her defense -- but maybe she just bought a cheap phone after a night of partying!

But you have everything laid out already, you clearly have thought about this stuff, so there is not that much left to say except for yeah, and you did the right thing, and hey motion detectors are only $20, who knew?

I say this because you seem a tiny bit frustrated that the discussion isn't going the way you had hoped.

Nimh, not much else to say except to urge you to get a motion detector or other burglar device.

You must remember that both the woman and the burglar know where you live. I seriously doubt that they would be stupid enough to try it again and you certainly shouldn't be paranoid but; if they are the type to whom revenge is important, you should have some protection.

Nah I really just wanted to know what other people would have done in this story, or how they would see the various players, say. I mean, its true, I wasnt looking for any kind of evaluation on what I did - just, what would you have done? Pure curiosity.

Well, as it turns out, everyone apparently would have done exactly as I did. Which is curious enough, really, when you think about it - cos from what I got from the police, this wasnt exactly like an all-the-time way things go. So I woulda thought a lot of people generally either pass by the cops in a situation like this, or decide to just leave it be altogether. But hey. <winks>

What else I got from this thread is that most everyone, if anything, would have had less tolerance / doubt about the whole girl-having-bought-the-phone thing. Which kinda makes sense: I guess theres not a lot of people here who think, hey, that coulda been me - or some close friend of mine. Just you, me and Craven, huh :wink:

I seem to have frustrated at least one other poster tho - have you taken a look at the poll? Hehhehheh.

Damn right I would have called the cops. At the very least she has bought stolen goods. Some one selling a cell phone in the pub like that, it is obvious it is stolen. And like the police said she could have connections to the burglar.

A friend of mine lived in an apartment similar to yours and was broken into like you were. She woke up with the burglar looking right down at her. Luckily he took off. After that she put bars on her windows.

Diane (et al), I'm not going to get a motion detector - for one, Anastasia still has the key to here and I want her to be able to come in and out when I'm not there (or when I'm asleep).

If they want revenge - well, I live on the ground floor as said, windows on street level - nothing much to do about that.

But I'll look into how to install some bars behind the little top windows. The main windows are already securely locked (from the inside) with police-approved locks.

Though I just realised that I dont have the keys to those anymore either ... so those'll have to be replaced too. And the basement lock. Grrrrr ... And I dont understand a thing about that insurance form they sent me. I get way too confused now ... period.

Ah well ... <smiles>

Insurance forms! Oy veh!

Nimh: A motion detector will not prevent Anastasia or anyone else from entering. I use them to turn on lights in the entry, bathrooms and closets, to turn on a camera outside the door of my condo and only if I choose; to set off the security alarm. For instance; if someone steps in front of my door, a light goes on there and in the living room to let me know they're there. X-10 systems are cheap, require no wiring and can be programmed to do anything you want. You can even control them from a remote control. Also, buy a bat.

SHOOT THE SUNUVABITCH . . .





who are we talkin' about?