This is an interesting story that i'm sure would get a lot of different opinions from people..
My friend and I went to a table tennis club 4 weeks ago.. It is located in a boys and girls club inside a gym with a basketball court. There were about 14 people in attendance that day including him and me. My friend laid his motorola razr phone (those really thin shiny $300 phones) on the sidelines because that's where we always put our stuff (wallets, cell phones, equipment, etc.).. A few other people had laid their razr phones there too. Normally this is a pretty tight knit club where we knew everybody, but on this day a few new club visitors showed up (my friend being one of visitors and I was a regular).
Since this was a Boys & Girls club, there was a boy about 10-11 years old (Update: he's actually 14 years old according to my friend) who was hanging out at the club. We encouraged him to try playing some table tennis with us when we noticed he was watching us from the doorway to the gym. He seemed pretty nice and enjoyed it for maybe 30 min and then went back to hanging out and watching tv in the lounge area. About an hour or two later, my friend noticed his phone was gone. So a bunch of the club's regulars kept calling it. A few rings, then voicemail. We went back to playing thinking one of the regulars who left might have mistaken it for his own
phone since a few other people there had razrs as well.
At the end of the club session, we determined nobody there had the phone. We called the phone a few more times and determined that whoever had it, had shut it off on purpose, because the voicemail came on nearly instantly. Whoever took it purposely did not want to answer it. My friend had charged the battery completely the night before so it would easily last several days.
Our initial suspicion was on the boy because he was the only young one at the club. We, as a group, asked him a few times whether he'd seen the phone. The nearly exact wording of the conversation was:
Us: "Have you seen a really thin cell phone anywhere around the building?"
Him: "Oh, you mean a razr phone?"
Us: "Yea.."
Him: "Nope"
We had no proof he took the phone, but his answer seemed pretty suspect.
My friend filed a police report that day. He knew though that cell phones are commonly stolen and almost never ever retrieved.
My friend figured whoever took the phone might use it and that he would catch them red handed by leaving the phone activated. Lo and behold, a few days later, activity charges showed up on his phone. The thief had downloaded games, ringtones, and made a few calls.
My friend called a few of the #s they called and traced it back to the kid.
So he called the kid's mother and spoke with her. She seemed pretty nice and said she would return it.
One would think that would be the end of the story right? Of course not.
A day or two goes by and he calls her to schedule a time to pick up the phone.
Her story changes and now she says she had sold it before and paid $75 to get the phone back. So she wants my friend to pay her $75, because she had to use her own money to get back his stolen phone.
(Now this is without a doubt, the dumbest logic i've ever heard.)
So my friend calls the cops, and they want him to meet with the mother and basically do a sting operation pretending that he would give her the $75. They would also press theft charges against the kid.
So my friend calls the mother to schedule a meeting and the kid picks up and says they don't have the phone anymore. I don't know what he was thinking. Just because they don't have the phone anymore, everything is hunky dory and back to normal?
Anyway that's where the story is at right now. My friend has the kid's address and phone #, so it would not be a problem getting to him.
My friend asked me if I would press charges against the kid once the police come.
My answer was I would certainly attempt to press theft charges against him. In fact i'd even go as far as saying he deserves a beating on top of that.
My thinking is this.
If the kid gave it back the first time he called him and apologized profusely, I'd be more willing to let him off the hook. But a number of things the kid and his mother did struck me as outright wrong. The kid lied to the club members right in our faces after we asked him several times and treated him nice. The weeks of calling back and forth
with his mother and him trying to make some $ with some logic that doesn't even
make sense? That certainly deserves pressing charges. Not to mention that their story changes with every call. After taking into account the time he had to waste dealing with this, stress, selling his old razr phone accessories on ebay, getting a new phone ($100), calling the phone company and the police. I'd say it all adds up to pressing charges.
Now, what would YOU do?
Let the kid go since he's still young and impressionable?
On the surface (at least to me), he looks like he is coming from a single parent, low-income household. He did not appear to be that poor that he would have to resort to stealing people's personal items just to get some $ for food.
Or press theft charges that would remain a permanent record?
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Update 12/04/05 A detective has taken over the case and has made repeated calls to their house since yesterday, nobody is picking up the phone. He is leaving a message on their door, if they still don't respond, both mom/child will have charges against them.
After reading all of your posts, my friend thought it would be best to just press charges against the mother. He is afraid of ruining the kid's future (though I personally don't think it will do anything and that he SHOULD press charges). He believes its a kid that is a victim of bad parenting. He's also afraid of the very remote and slight chance the kid will bust a cap in him for revenge if he sees him walking down the street. lol
Also, for the person who asked what race they were. They are black.
And also, the kid is 14 years old, rather than 10-11 as I originally thought. He looked 10-11 to me. heh
Stay tuned for more updates!
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My friend and I went to a table tennis club 4 weeks ago.. It is located in a boys and girls club inside a gym with a basketball court. There were about 14 people in attendance that day including him and me. My friend laid his motorola razr phone (those really thin shiny $300 phones) on the sidelines because that's where we always put our stuff (wallets, cell phones, equipment, etc.).. A few other people had laid their razr phones there too. Normally this is a pretty tight knit club where we knew everybody, but on this day a few new club visitors showed up (my friend being one of visitors and I was a regular).
Since this was a Boys & Girls club, there was a boy about 10-11 years old (Update: he's actually 14 years old according to my friend) who was hanging out at the club. We encouraged him to try playing some table tennis with us when we noticed he was watching us from the doorway to the gym. He seemed pretty nice and enjoyed it for maybe 30 min and then went back to hanging out and watching tv in the lounge area. About an hour or two later, my friend noticed his phone was gone. So a bunch of the club's regulars kept calling it. A few rings, then voicemail. We went back to playing thinking one of the regulars who left might have mistaken it for his own
phone since a few other people there had razrs as well.
At the end of the club session, we determined nobody there had the phone. We called the phone a few more times and determined that whoever had it, had shut it off on purpose, because the voicemail came on nearly instantly. Whoever took it purposely did not want to answer it. My friend had charged the battery completely the night before so it would easily last several days.
Our initial suspicion was on the boy because he was the only young one at the club. We, as a group, asked him a few times whether he'd seen the phone. The nearly exact wording of the conversation was:
Us: "Have you seen a really thin cell phone anywhere around the building?"
Him: "Oh, you mean a razr phone?"
Us: "Yea.."
Him: "Nope"
We had no proof he took the phone, but his answer seemed pretty suspect.
My friend filed a police report that day. He knew though that cell phones are commonly stolen and almost never ever retrieved.
My friend figured whoever took the phone might use it and that he would catch them red handed by leaving the phone activated. Lo and behold, a few days later, activity charges showed up on his phone. The thief had downloaded games, ringtones, and made a few calls.
My friend called a few of the #s they called and traced it back to the kid.
So he called the kid's mother and spoke with her. She seemed pretty nice and said she would return it.
One would think that would be the end of the story right? Of course not.
A day or two goes by and he calls her to schedule a time to pick up the phone.
Her story changes and now she says she had sold it before and paid $75 to get the phone back. So she wants my friend to pay her $75, because she had to use her own money to get back his stolen phone.
(Now this is without a doubt, the dumbest logic i've ever heard.)
So my friend calls the cops, and they want him to meet with the mother and basically do a sting operation pretending that he would give her the $75. They would also press theft charges against the kid.
So my friend calls the mother to schedule a meeting and the kid picks up and says they don't have the phone anymore. I don't know what he was thinking. Just because they don't have the phone anymore, everything is hunky dory and back to normal?
Anyway that's where the story is at right now. My friend has the kid's address and phone #, so it would not be a problem getting to him.
My friend asked me if I would press charges against the kid once the police come.
My answer was I would certainly attempt to press theft charges against him. In fact i'd even go as far as saying he deserves a beating on top of that.
My thinking is this.
If the kid gave it back the first time he called him and apologized profusely, I'd be more willing to let him off the hook. But a number of things the kid and his mother did struck me as outright wrong. The kid lied to the club members right in our faces after we asked him several times and treated him nice. The weeks of calling back and forth
with his mother and him trying to make some $ with some logic that doesn't even
make sense? That certainly deserves pressing charges. Not to mention that their story changes with every call. After taking into account the time he had to waste dealing with this, stress, selling his old razr phone accessories on ebay, getting a new phone ($100), calling the phone company and the police. I'd say it all adds up to pressing charges.
Now, what would YOU do?
Let the kid go since he's still young and impressionable?
On the surface (at least to me), he looks like he is coming from a single parent, low-income household. He did not appear to be that poor that he would have to resort to stealing people's personal items just to get some $ for food.
Or press theft charges that would remain a permanent record?
=========================================================
Update 12/04/05 A detective has taken over the case and has made repeated calls to their house since yesterday, nobody is picking up the phone. He is leaving a message on their door, if they still don't respond, both mom/child will have charges against them.
After reading all of your posts, my friend thought it would be best to just press charges against the mother. He is afraid of ruining the kid's future (though I personally don't think it will do anything and that he SHOULD press charges). He believes its a kid that is a victim of bad parenting. He's also afraid of the very remote and slight chance the kid will bust a cap in him for revenge if he sees him walking down the street. lol
Also, for the person who asked what race they were. They are black.
And also, the kid is 14 years old, rather than 10-11 as I originally thought. He looked 10-11 to me. heh
Stay tuned for more updates!
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