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How Not to Steal a Sidekick
timmit was one of many readers to point out the story of a stolen Sidekick, writing with this excerpt from the site: ""When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves." I can sympathize, after someone with the address Rmluckyguy@aol.com tried to sell me back the Visor Deluxe stolen from my car last year in Philadelphia. I hope Evan has better luck.
It's still up now... *blink*
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http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/
June 6th, 2006: The people in the pictures below have my friend's T-Mobile Sidekick. Instead of doing the honorable thing when finding someone's phone in a taxi, they instead kept it.
I have found 8 cell phones in the last couple years in taxis. EVERY single one I have contacted the owner (by leaving a message on their voice mail or by answering their phone and telling their friends that I have the phone) and returned it promptly. When people have found my phone, they have also in turn returned it.
When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves.
I immediately contacted the AOL name: Sashacristal8905 and requested that the Sidekick be returned. I was immediately told that my "white ass" didn't deserve it back. That she was not a "white bitch" (my friend who is a blonde white girl had pics on the phone this person had obviously seen) stupid enough to return a phone she found. After lots of threats, she said she and her boy would wait for me at:
Sashacristal8905: i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it
So, anyways..this is my story. If you happen to know these people in the picture please let me know at: stolensidekick@gmail.com I am not going to go to the address posted above, because a.) Not going to waste my time going to a probable fake address b.) If it is real, there will be a physical altercation and I would probably wind up arrested which would do no good to anyone. I'd rather just embarrass the thief as much as possible. Teach them a lesson on the etiquette of returning peoples lost belongings.
UPDATE #1: Thanx to some cyberwork of friends, found out they have a Myspace acct: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=us er.viewprofile&friendID=78722066
UPDATE #2: Some people are asking how we have their pics and AOL name. The way a Sidekick works, is that when you use it, all the data on it get's uploaded automatically to the T-Mobile server. So pictures you have taken, AOL names and passwords u have used, etc are all on the server. So when my friend turned on her new Sidekick and put her new SIM card in, all the data downloaded on to her phone. And that's how we have everything.
Some people also suggested this may be a ploy of some kind. If you notice, there are NO ads on this website. There are NO outside links besides the one to their MySpace page. I am only doing this to bring embarrassment to people who have no moral value in this world.
UPDATE #3: More questions answered. My friend left her Sidekick II in a taxi inManhattan (where we live). The person(s) that took it live in Corona Queens which is part of NYC. As for contacting the police, a NYPD officer has contacted me already (he found this link on a blog) and informed me how to handle this situation. My friend and I will stop by a police station tomorrow with the receipt and serial. Another friend at T-Mobile has already gotten us the records we need to prove that these people took the phone as well as the numbers that they called with it. Right now, I am more concerned about spreading this story. I want people to realize that what goes around, comes around. If you find a phone in a taxi or elsewhere.. it is NOT yours.. return it....and when u lose an item, then the same will happen for u.
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
Yes. Theft of lost property is usually called "theft by unlawful taking".
Check out the MySpace account they found:
s er.viewprofile&friendID=78722066
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=u
The goggles they do nothing etc. Worst site I have seen in a while.
More seriously, it erodes your belief in the basic goodness of people, and hardens your attitude to certain classes of people, when you see such poor specimens of human beings as these.
${YEAR+1} is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
I'm a dummy about GSM devices, but if she'd used her own SIM, to use the device it wouldn't have uploaded to the "wrong" account. Am I wrong here? If I'm not, then someone knew they were using minutes they didn't own.
Not returning something when you know it doesn't belong to you, and additionally using the phone service that someone else paid for is theft. If I find a bike laying in the street and I pick it up and walk off with it, even though there's a kid yelling and chasing me and saying that it's his and he just left it there for a minute, then yeah, I just stole his bike.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
They FOUND the phone. They aren't guilty of a crime.
Guess again. Since they know whose it is, they have a legal duty to surrender the property to its rightful owner.
So, what exactly are the police supposed to do about it?
They're supposed to restore the property to its owner, and possibly arrest the person who "found" it, if she refuses to give it up.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Already three forums have been overflowed by the traffic. I made a Google Group that definitely can handle the load:
http://groups.google.com/group/stolensidekick
Please mod up so people will become aware of this. I've already sent Evan an e-mail.
New York State Consolidated Laws ... ... ... ... ... ...
TITLE J
OFFENSES INVOLVING THEFT
ARTICLE 155
LARCENY
S 155.00 Larceny; definitions of terms.
The following definitions are applicable to this title:
7-c. "Access device" means any telephone calling card number, credit
card number, account number, mobile identification number, electronic
serial number or personal identification number that can be used to
obtain telephone service.
S 155.05 Larceny; defined.
1. A person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to
deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or to
a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property
from an owner thereof.
2. Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding of
another`s property, with the intent prescribed in subdivision one of
this section, committed in any of the following ways:
(b) By acquiring lost property.
A person acquires lost property when he exercises control over
property of another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid, or to
have been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the recipient
or the nature or amount of the property, without taking reasonable
measures to return such property to the owner;
S 155.30 Grand larceny in the fourth degree.
A person is guilty of grand larceny in the fourth degree when he
steals property and when:
1. The value of the property exceeds one thousand dollars; or
10. The property consists of an access device which the person intends
to use unlawfully to obtain telephone service.
Grand larceny in the fourth degree is a class E felony.