My Stolen Gun

[DetroitBiker]

Went to to Sheriff's Department today to pick up my recovered handgun.
Back in July of 2011 my gun was taken from my wife's car parked in my driveway.
We had gone to a family 4th of July BBQ during the day,and I had put my gun in the
center console (her side of the family are mostly Liberals, and are not into guns) so I
thought it would be better to leave it in the car to avoid any long dragged out gun debates.

The family gathering went until about 10:00 pm when we left for home,and its about an hour drive
to where I live out in Hartland. By the time I got home I was beat tired, bringing in the extra food,
folding chairs,coolers etc.. I had totally forgotten about my little Snub nose .38 I had put in the console.

When I got into the car the next day to go somewhere I noticed the console lid was flipped up and
immediately realized that I had forgotten about my gun and that it was gone! It took a minute to sink in
because my door was locked and I wasn't sure how someone would have gotten in.As it turned out
the power lock only worked on the Driver side and the passenger side did not lock with the remote.

I made the report with the Livingston County Sheriff's Dept. and figured I probably wouldn't ever
see that gun again. A few months later I received a letter to appear in Livingston County Juvenile court
for a case of WEAPONS-FIREARMS & CONCEALING


As it turned out,a 16 yr old kid (3 houses down from me)and his friend/s were caught breaking into a vehicle
a couple miles down the road. I figured maybe they had my gun on them when they were caught. and that's
why I was being informed of the court preliminary hearing.

The next few months were dragged out and I had gone back about 4 times to different proceedings,and I
got a chance to talk to one of the assistant prosecutors,when I inquired about my gun and the
possibility of me getting it back,I was told They didn't Have the gun. I was puzzled,if the police never recovered it,
How did they link it to this kid,And why am I wasting my time going back and forth to all these Court dates.

Apparently, a Confidential Informant that went to the same Legacy School (special school for screw ups) here in hartland.
heard this kid Blake had stolen a Gun from a car in my subdivision,and reported this to the LCS. They then
equipped him with a hidden recording device and set up a meeting with Blake to buy the gun.during the conversation
the kid agrees to a price and says the gun is buried in a field, they looked around for a while and could not find it.

Police later checked the area for hours with metal detectors,and no gun was found. Another few months go by then
I get a subpoena for a restitution hearing, where I was to bring in receipts, copies of estimates of what
my gun/Holster were worth etc.. I talked with the assistant prosecutor again ,and was told the kid was taking
a plea bargain and the Magistrate could award me replacement cost for my stolen property.

In a nutshell, the kid had to pay for the goods stolen and damaged to the truck he was caught red handed breaking into,
but in my case, They didn't have the Gun,and he denied ever having it. So I was told ,there would be no
restitution awarded to me and the case was over.

Fast forward to last Friday 2-1-13, The Mail Lady knocked on my door with a certified letter,I signed for it
and it was from the Sheriff's Department saying they have my Stolen property in the evidence room and
if I would like to get it back to call and make an appointment by Feb 28 or It will be destroyed.They closed
at 2pm so I had to wait till Monday morning. I Called and picked it up .My Don Hume holster was MIA,but I'm just
Glad to get the gun back.

If your still reading this,Sorry the story was so long and dragged out, I figured I had to put some detail into it
because there would be questions. I was flamed pretty hard 6 months ago when I mentioned my gun stolen in
another thread. I know it was a bad thing to do,and I screwed up leaving my gun in the car. I learned my lesson
and wont be doing that again. Hopefully someone else might read this and learn from my mistake and
not leave a gun in the car as unsecured as I did. I now have a gunvault in the trunk.

Heres a Pic of My S&W model 49 ,I cleaned it up and put some rosewood grips on her tonight.

[HkP7]

Glad you got your gun back, she looks good

[Cocowheats]

Glad you got it back...

Not glad registration did something positive...

[DOUGHBOY RACING]

Congrats Buddy good news now I can go to bed lol

[Farmer Dan]

I sold a Raven .25 auto to a old friend that was a truck driver. 9 years later Tribal Police knocked on my door and asked me if I had ever owned a .25 auto. I said yes but sold it 9 years ago and I could give them the buyers name if they needed it. They said no, we have him in our cell. We just need to know if you want your gun back. I said if it won't cause me any trouble then yes I'd like it back. The officer handed me the same gray leather case I sold it in, inside was the .25 auto and two full mags. Then they turned and walked away. The next day I started to get a little nervous about the whole event so I took it to a gun shop and sold it for $25. To this day I stay away from little guns LOL.

[Hockey9019]

Do you know where they found it at?

[DetroitBiker]

Do you know where they found it at?

I bought a copy of the police report ($10) in Livingston County
and it was 17 pages long.
The story took all kinds of twists and Turns,too much to list in my original post here.
But in the end, In was recovered by Alburn Hills PD, then Livingston County went there to pick it up. They never mention how Alburn Hills PD acquired it.

I was hoping it would all be in the report. I might have to see if AHPD has a report of their own. There is a couple different numbers on the Evidence box.

[Budget]

Glad you got it back...

Not glad registration did something positive...

It wasn't registration, it was the SN. If there were no registration, the Serial Number could easily have been reported and then given back to the owner.

Maybe its time to order a lockable case for your car that you stow under the seat.

[RevDerb]

Congrats on the return of your property. Glad that it wound up ending well.

[tote'ngranny]

Gorgeous little gun an glad that you got it back. Sounds like the kid is destined for hard times if he doesn't wise up.