The stolen Sidekick
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Sometimes people get away with doing wrong. Other times, they get posted on the internet.
You have to check out this link:
The Story and Updates of a Stolen Sidekick
So the story goes that two friends were riding in a cab. One left her T-mobile Sidekick II in the taxi. The other guy friend text messaged her phone, saying that there would be a reward for the return of the phone. There was no reply, so after a day of waiting, she bought a new Sidekick, only to find that the person that took the phone had logged into AOL which allowed access to both their user name and password. AND they had taken pictures of themselves!
So the friend, the owner of the website above, contacted the AOL user and asked for the phone back. The girl who had the phone immediately refused, saying that they weren’s so stupid as to return a phone, and then sent threats from her and her boyfriend.
He was rightfully upset with this response. So now, he has turned the power of the internet against these thieves. Needless to say, these individuals have been getting all kinds of communications through their MySpace accounts and other contacts.
Read the whole story. It’s not resolved as of yet, but it is pretty amusing.
So I went to the website link, Kat, and did you see what was going on? 1) an NYPD officer told him that it was NOT ILLEGAL for someone in position of stolen goods to refuse to return them to the rightful owner (of course, a bunch of other NYPD cops hurried to write that yes of course it’s illegal), and 2) a friend of a friend of a friend who knows the girl reported that her family was countersuing him for harrassment. That sounds just insane to me. Does the family not realize that the owners got all their information from the SIM card? Or maybe the girl just neglected to mention that to her mom?
So out of curiosity, can anyone make a case in the thieves defense? I...can’t. Let’s say that the girl was naive enough to buy it from a cab driver...she realized it was stolen at least as soon as when the owners contacted her and she balled them out for being “stupid and white.” And how poor and sympathy-worthy is this girl if she, 16 years old and single mother, had $100 lying around to spend on a phone? Unless she had been planning to resell it all along. Anyways, it’s been interesting to see the Manhattan-guy’s outrage at our justice system colliding with the Queens-girl’s rudeness and assuredness that she’s done nothing wrong. I wish I could pass it off as a misunderstanding, but no, she knew that she had their possession and refused to return it. What a mess.
Posted by on 06/14 at 07:25 AMDid you see? They got the sidekick back! They’re auctioning it off on EBay, and splitting the proceeds into thirds: 1/3 for the owner, 1/3 for the owner of the website and campaign, and 1/3 to charity. I was worried for a while there that the police wouldn’t do anything. I just couldn’t believe that that cop told him it wasn’t a crime to take someone’s property and not return it when asked. Crazy! Anyways, this guy is going to be on Good Morning America tomorrow (Friday) on ABC. Glad it turned out so well.
Posted by on 06/22 at 12:15 PM