If I were them, I'd steer clear of this thread entirely. The relevant factual information has been presented, so it's all down to the opinions, and there's no good that can come of wading into that.
Been there, done that. I found a guitar pedal of mine in a local pawn. I had the same options. I had bought it used at Guitar Center for $85, new price is $149. At $35 form the pawn, it was irritating, but better than having it locked up at the PD for an unknown time and then the cost to replace as well.
Havent seen anything "factual" and providing documentation backing it up. So..
There are three ways to get your pawned stolen items back in the State of Oklahoma.
1. The pawn shop gives it back to the rightfull owner and seeks restitution through the courts.
2. The law enforcement agency place a "hold" on the evidence and a judge decides who the property belongs to.
3. You pay the pawn broker for your item (usually what they have in it) and then you can possibly seek restitution through the courts.
The most common charge for someone pawning stolen property is False Decleration (felony no matter the value of the item).
If your insurance pays off the item, it is no longer your item, it now belongs to your insurance company (even if you settled for .01 and it was worth $1,000.00.
Not opinion, nothing but the facts
So you're telling me if I bought a gun off of you, that you purchased at a gun show and it came up stolen I'm concealing stolen property?? Give me a break. Saying the pawnbroker "Knowingly Concealed Stolen Merchandise" is total BS.
The original is a victim and has a right to get their merchandise back. The pawnshop also purchased that merchandise and is also a victim. Pawnshops send a full description to the Police Department daily which includes; Manufacturer, Model Number, Serial Number, and any identifying marks. We hold merchandise for a minimum 10 days so that Law Enforcement can run numbers for stolen merchandise. If an item comes up stolen the person who sold it to us just committed a felony, "False Declaration to a Pawnbroker". They signed a ticket claiming ownership for X amount of days, years, or months. The merchandise will be picked up by law enforcement and held in the property room, or released to the victim. It's up to the DA and detectives on the case. The first victim gets their merchandise back, and the pawnshop will someday get restitution from the person who committed the crime.
Me personally, I would never charge a victim to get their merchandise back unless it was a large amount of money. I've never had a LEO suggest the victim do so.
Hmmm. That Sucks. Seems like a pawn shop owner could be in business with thieves (second branch of business) and sell the crap they steal. Since there's no consequence for them buying stolen items.
I know as an individual, any firearms, vehicle, trailer or whatever has an often used serial number that I purchase has the serial number taken down and checked to make sure it's not hot before I buy it. There's no reason pawn shops can't do the same thing.
I know as an individual, any firearms, vehicle, trailer or whatever has an often used serial number that I purchase has the serial number taken down and checked to make sure it's not hot before I buy it. There's no reason pawn shops can't do the same thing.
You obviously have no idea how a pawnshop works. I email a full description to the Police Department daily with Manufacturer, Model, Serial, and any other identifying marks on the item I'm taking in. If you have your name carved in a tool, that gets emailed to the police department. Pawn Shops DO report EVERYTHING that we take in, and get audited annually or semi-annually by Consumer Credit. Other second hand stores do not report to law enforcement.
True. I don't. This is why I used the opening phrase "seems like".
Not a positive declaration. I was posting that statement based on the info I'd read in this thread on this forum. After posting, I read new posts and saw your first mentioning of the report to law enforcement. That makes sense. Still sucks that if something does come up stolen, it's up to the original victim to pay for it if the shop so chooses. I can call an LEO friend and get serial numbers ran, before a purchase, seems like shop owners could do the same.
Also, just out of curiosity, is the reporting that your shop uses a voluntary thing? I'm wondering how so much stolen merchandise ends up trafficking through pawn shops if a report is done on everything. Are just reputable shops like SSP doing this voluntarily or are some shops simply not reporting what they should?
Thank you for taking the time to explain how it works. Im glad your a sponser. Again thanks for commenting and providing a place to shop for firearms.
