There are four types of crimes that are considered theft in Texas: shoplifting, writing bad checks, general theft and buying/selling stolen property.

Theft is a crime of moral turpitude in the state of Texas, which means that sort of dishonesty is frowned upon by the general public. This person is not only facing jail time but also the very real possibility that landlords and employers will not feel any inclination to do any kind of transaction with them soley based on a bad decision which will forever reflect on the quality of their character.

Per Texas Penal Code, theft is taking someone else's property without consent, either by deception or by physically stealing it. It doesn't matter how long you've had it to be considered theft - all the prosecution has to show that this individual had criminal intent when taking the property and knew that it belonged to someone else.

It's not going to wash in a Texas court that this guy got it off a friend who got it off a friend who found it in the street because it fell off the back of a truck.

That this Stick probably cost more than $1500 (but less than $20K) at the time it was purchased this individual is looking at a felony conviction and state prison time - more than a year in the pen.

If this Stick is less than $1500 and the person selling it has prior convictions for buying/selling stolen property this person is still looking at a felony case with state prison time.

Mind you I am not talking about what this person paid for it - I'm talking about what the rightful owner paid for it and what it was valued at the time he purchased it. That's going to be a determinant factor when they sentence this individual.

This person's looking at about 2-5...years.

They don't play in Texas, folks. That's the last state in America you want to be caught doing anything monumentally stupid.

Now Texas law may cut this person some slack if they cooperate and drop a dime on somebody, but there's a whole new can of worms right there because they're forever going to be branded a "snitch" - and that could cost this individual their life.

Reference: Texas Penal Code Sec. 31.03.
http://www.bakers-legal-pages.com/pc/3103.htm

In short: this person had the bad form to buy/sell a stolen item in the state of Texas - a state that has some of the most draconian penalties in comparison to where you live. If you think this is harsh for theft, you should bear in mind that this is also the state that has an express line for capital offenses and executes more death row inmates than the rest of the United States.

This person is about as screwed as screwed gets. God help this person if they're the one who actually stole it - because the selling stolen property rap isn't the only one they're going to take and they better hope the judge decides the sentences are going to run concurrently.

Texas is also the state, where walking on someones property can prove to be fatal. It sounds like this guy is in for A LOT of trouble,regardless of his level of involvement.

That's putting it mildly.

This guy has a lot of transactions under his belt. It's possible, but I highly doubt that this is the only stolen property that he has ever listed for sale. It's possible but very unlikely. The person (if they exist) that he bought the stick from has probably sold to him before. I'm sure the authorities are going to go through the list of everything that he has sold. What a mess this is.

I'm a little confused... The auction is still up and I haven't seen a follow-up post from the Stick's proper owner...

Is anything actually being done, or did the emails to ebay get lost in the void?

Dan

Thanks Guys you are great. The number of people sending me emails has been really fine. The Stick community is really cool...man. I had a search on within Ebay to notify me when a new Chapman Stick was posted for auction, so I knew about it, within an hour after it was posted, I knew it. I been layin' low...Ebay forces you to rely on local law enforcement. I been laying low cause I know that your enemy knows that he has been found out before he sees that he is. Things take place in the spiritual realm first then it manifest in the material world.

So for now I gotta let the local cops deal with it....It keeps me from rollin up real slow in my ride......with Misty Mountain Hop makin' the truck rattle and going real ganster on some dude.

Bluedallas, I hope you get your stick back ASAP. You have the right idea, let the authorities handle this. As William stated and as you already know, this guys worst days are yet to come. For those of us who have had expensive equipment stolen, it will be nice to see that sometimes the horrible can be reversed. Take care and it's so great to know that the people on this forum look out for eachother.

Good deal, Bluedallas! Glad you got the messages and hopefully your Stick returned soon. I too saw it right after it went on auction and just checked the serial # out of curiosity of how old the instrument is and ended up here viewing your "stolen stick" message. Keep us posted as the drama unfolds and the execution is scheduled!

I hope you will recover your stick soon. Wonderful community we have here Again THANKS MANNY for making this possible! It was a very good idea to have this specific subforum; I hope we will not have to use it again.


Cheers, Daniel.

I'm in a similar situation in the UK.

Some POS intercepted my Analogman 'King of Tone' from the mail depot at the start of February...it went missing then someone flogged it on eBay. I've been doing all I can but my only weapon is the telephone...so now we're 6 weeks on and the police are just about motivated. Might not be as expensive as a Stick but they do take a year to get hold of!