Beyond Mega Pissed Off...

[Cleveland Metal]

Man... This sucks in a big way...

I own a rental house next to mine. It's been empty a while as the last tenants destroyed it and I was too poor to fix it really. Too poor to have insurance on the thing either as it's vacant and they just don't insure vacant property easiliy.

I've slowly been putting all my extra cash into rebuilding the place. Since I was re-doing so much with drywall etc, I replumbed most of the the place and rewired the old ancient wiring and breakers, and installed 220v service throughout the place for baseboard heat. Most of the downstairs ceiling are out so I could get to pipes and wiring.

Went in tonight I went in and someone had broken into it Wednesday or Thursday night, gutted the place and removed all the new copper pipe and new wiring through out the house. Hacked pipes and clipped wires to everything. Unbelievable what they did to the place to get a little copper.

They also stole a lot of tools, New ladders...several 5 gallon buckets of paint ($120 each), a couple big rolls of new house wire. A bunch of pricey baseboard heaters, even the f-ing sink and bath faucets and water meter... The list goes on. Stole the garbage cans there to carry stuff in.

They covered the windows with the new drywall laying there so the lights didn't shine out, and used my own tools to do it.

Chances are, I was here next door sleeping while they did it... Nice... Can't really see the exits from here and never heard a thing.

They left a lot too... I figure they might be back. So, I bought a nice intercom and I'm sitting around listening. Maybe I'll get to meet them and thank them in person.

Jeeez... REALLY really bad financial time for this to happen. House was close to bringing some money in, now that's a long way away that... With no insurance on it, this is a really hard hit.
So, I figured I'd bitch and moan a bit.

Sigh....

[VitaminG]

geez, John. I'm really sorry to hear that.

Crazy that they would go to all that trouble to strip out the wiring and piping. I could see that someone might take off with tools, ladders, paint, fittings, etc. but the wiring?!

I guess with no insurance, there's not much you can really do about it either, apart from hope the cops catch the little fucks & get your stuff back

[442w30]

That is VERY UNCOOL.


File a police report (as if I had to tell you). Around here, you can't sell scrap copper without providing ID, empoloyer name/number, and the source of your scrap. Hope these thieves are stupid enough to get caught.

G'Luck bro.

[Cleveland Metal]

Thanks guys. Well, copper is around 3.50+ a pound now. So, They made a few bucks. Lots of scrap yards here to look through, seems to be a lot of this happening now. They just took a saw into the lot at my shop and cut a bunch of catalytic converters off cars. Hit a few of ours and cost us a couple grand. They ain't cheap...

Cops have been here, and believe it or not, I'm supposed to be ACTUALLY waiting for the Scientific Investigation Unit to come and look at a few things that have good prints on them. Prolly tomorrow. The nice chrome tub faucet, the surrounding chrome plate and chrome shower head has some prints on it, as well as a few other things like a pipe cutter they left.

Not sure prints will help, friends that have been off the force for ten years said they didn't have it back then like on TV where they can run a print through a computer here for a search without a suspect or some bullshit... Hopefully, technology is there now and the SIU guy will have a better response.

I'm surprised they requested prints for a BS thing like this etc... Pretty cool. Talking bout trying to get on the force etc. they seemed to take a liking to me.

Be really nice if they caught these fuckers. I'm so pissed I'm sick to my stomach... Put a lot of work and money in that place.

[cookiemonster2]

That sucks.

A few months ago guys broke into the house across the street that was being built and starting taking shit out. I called 911 and they still got away two minutes before the police helicopter was overhead. They probably know the police can't respond fast enough to catch them.

[joshulator]

Any chance it's the previous tenants? Did they have a beef with you?

[hippietim]

sorry to hear about this john - i hope they get these fuckers.

[Cleveland Metal]

Thanks Tim.. Prolly won't but it's possible. All my shit will be long gone anyways. Never get that stuff back I know.

Any chance it's the previous tenants? Did they have a beef with you?

No, that dude was a Cracked out US postal worker! He moved far out of state and would be terrified to see me today. If these guys knew me or knew I lived next door, they'd never have done this for fear of me and my shotgun. Anyones that knows me, knows I'm well armed and not a friendly towards scum.

Just an opportunity for some scum that saw a "vacant" house. Sad it was mine, that's all.

[Argos]

That fucking sucks dude. Me and a few guys recently turned a huge place into apartments and we'd wondered about the same situation since it's happened here recently. We actually paid a few homeless guys we knew to sleep there and scare the shit out of anyone who tried to get in while we were doing construction

[Drsracing]

This could all be solved with one law, but since the goverment sucks they'll never do it

If they made it to where only certifed recycles could sell copper and such all this would be done

Its a real problem down where I work in the industrial distric, its really bad for the city dept's to, they catch 10 crackheads a day trying to steal shit

Sorry it happened to you bro, hopefully they come back and meet up with the shotgun

[OnlineStageGear]

Wow that sux. I hate thiefs in the worst way.

[Cleveland Metal]

Yeah, does suck. I guess looking at it with a few hours hindsight, it's just money, time and sweat lost. I'll find more of all that I spose. And the angry and violated feeling, will go away.

So much worse happens to people everyday (like Scotty and his cancer), sorta silly to be too upset I guess. Just very frustrating in my financial situation right now, that's all really. Bit of a slapdown etc.

Thanks for letting me vent tho... Typing crap out, definitely helps you to get a better picture of things.

[missionguitars1]

That is completely fucked up. Granted, there are worse thing that can happen to you, and it's "just money", but that sux.

My parents have a couple places in San Francisco, and they've gotten the random crackhead/speedfreak that has destroyed their place. The worst was the two guys that got AIDS and decided that if they were going down, they were taking everyone with them...including the landlord! And if you think my parents had any recourse, think again - it's the Peoples Republic of San Fran and they didn't have a leg to stand on in court...

Regardless, take a deep breath and power on - don't let the bastards wear you down!

[sevser]

WTF!

Sorry to hear of this John!!!

On a lighter (But somewhat related note)

Last night I took my new moutain bike to the corner store and realized I fogot the lock key...So, I put it right out side the store window and went in...I get out and its gone!

I b-lined right towards this crowed of teen punks and there it is being ridden around by this puke. My hairs were straight up and I had violent visions. I said...."Get-the-FUCK-off" he looked like a deer caught in the headlights and jumped off. I just told him how fucking dumb that was, cuz I was ready to go rank. I really thought they were going to stand up to me, but it went down with out anyones teeth meeting my bike frame...Thats good.

[lerxstcat]

Hell John, that really sucks! Be careful, even with a shotgun, if someone gets behind you with a 2x4 it can get dicey fast. Staying alive is even more imp[ortant

If it happens, call 911 then head over with the shotgun. Maybe they'll get there in time to help you out so you can catch all the fucking scumbags.