These are Lapis Cabochon with Swarovski Topaz Teardrop Earrings, and we have no idea of what the stolen ear rings look like.
10News is running a story about frustrations and solutions. A local Point Loma woman found her stolen jewelry – worth $1,000 – online, and at first went to the police and then to eBay – both without success … initially.
It’s a cute story with a lesson and happy ending.
Sarah Endemann’s hubby had purchased a pair of apis cabochon stud earrings from Tiffany & Co. and a matching bracelet, worth a thousand bucks. It was a birthday present and he either stuck them or hid them in his golf bag, that he left in his truck.
Well, days later, the Endemann’s cars were both broken into and burglarized; they had been parked in front of their Point Loma home. Natch, they reported the break-in and thefts it to San Diego police and their insurance company. At this point, Mr Endemann must have come forth had disclosed the gift, we suppose.
Sarah was burned and bummed, but it didn’t stop her. She told the TV station:
“I logged on to eBay and just did a little search for Tiffany lapis and sure enough, the bracelet came up… and then I went to the seller’s storefront and saw they had another item for sale and it was the earrings.”
Plus it turned out that Mr Endemann’s name was on the bottom of one of the receipts pictured on eBay.
Sarah turned to the TV station and the rest is history. See their story.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a friend whose drums were stolen several years back. 4 months later he found them on CL and because the cops refused to do anything even with a police report. He had to buy them back for $400.
My friend had her motor scooter stolen. Found it on Craigslist a few days later and just brought a few large male friends to help her get it back. Much faster and more efficient than getting the cops involved. No threats were needed. It was more like, “perhaps you didn’t know you were trying to sell stolen property?”
That’s pretty much the way it went down when a guy I know saw the custom chopper bicycle he hand welded himself (but was stolen from his yard) show up on CL about a month later. He responded to the ad and took a couple friends and a picture of the bike.
The kid quickly surrendered the machine and my friend says he believes the kid’s story that he bought it from someone who was the likely thief.
So that is an important additional point, that just because someone has something that was stolen from you doesn’t mean they are a thief and may be an honorable person who bought it legitimately.
You’d be surprised to know how hard this stuff is to check out. Last year I bought a road bike from a guy I’ve known for 25 years, I know he’s not a thief and he’s owned the bike for about 5 years, he bought it used off CL. He offered me a great deal on it because he knew I’d always envied it (a Klein) and had quit riding it after having a baby and it needed some TLC. It’s not likely to be hot but who knows? So trying to be diligent I spent an evening with its serial numbers researching the internet.
There is no universal shared database of police depts sharing information about stolen goods reported. You can’t even get such information about reports in your own city. There are a couple of sites which attempt to do this but most charge the owners to list their lost machines- who’s going to do that?
I think I found 1-2 sites that were free for both searchers and owners of lost machines.
If someone comes up to me someday when I’m riding the bike I legitimately purchased and paid for, and attempted due diligence to establish was not stolen, and says “hey that’s mine” I’d say “can you prove it?” and if they did I’d still say “so what?”.
Two sides to this issue.
It`s great to hear that she found her jewelry :)