Another Sizable Train Theft - This Time on the Installment Plan

Like I have said many times, Be very careful who you let in your house to view your trains and collection. The internet is not your friend. I had a few folks that wanted to come to my house to pick stuff up however I always met them elsewhere. A few did not show up.

Diabolical!

Mother and son. What a family.

Unbelievable a retired correction officer could be so niave...

I heard Scott Smith's wife bailed them out and invited them to Roanoke for a visit. 

How heartbreaking to see happen. I really hope that Mr. Leary is able to recover most of his stolen trains back that this tag-team of thieves have taken from him. 

This is why unless you are a really good friend or a member of a club that I one day will be a member of, you won't come near my collection of trains. Better safe than sorry nowadays, with stories like this popping up more and more often.  

Exactly!

Horrible!

Peter

That is very low, its a shame how people can be this cold and do something like that, the one thing i hate the most is a Thief

hello guys...........

The internet is much WORSE than that, it allows NSA to snooping private parties. The computer is really a enemy of mankind, it gives the government too much power to abuse. We all are paying for internet services giving permission to NSA to snoop us.

Its a matter of time before the computer can think for itself if some fool have not invent it already. OK, enough of that let move on.

Tiffany

It's amazing how many of us spend thousands of dollars on trains yet when it comes to simple security like cameras- even game cameras- no one wants to spend a measly $1500.00 [sacrafice a price of a brass steamer] for a good security camera system.

Wow!If I were you, I would disconnect from the internet immediately and throw out the computer. The money you'll save can be used to buy more trains. However, you never know--the NSA probably has access to the computer chip in your command control engines. So, you probably better go conventional, just to be absolutely safe.

I wish I had that many $$ worth of trains. When I had guns and a dealer's  license I had a security system but that is no guarantee. My wife had the interior of our house painted and I had to carry over 100 old guns up to the attic All gone now but still careful who I let in. You can't meet someone in a remote area to complete a sale, you can be robbed.  The world we live in.

They always came with a big blue tub...It would have been hard for me to not be curious about that.

Jeff Davis

Unfortunately, they are out there. Can't be too careful these days.

Given any thought as to what is going on inside the new Apple wrist-watch?  

Okay...I am still confused...what do you suppose these crooks did with the trains once they stole them...just put them in their collection?

Somehow, I doubt they were able to re-sell them for anywhere near the $64K the gentleman says they were "worth."  Were these people just enhancing their own collection.

Someone help me understand the cost benefit analysis of going to jail versus stealing Lionel trains.

Life is a chance.  You take chances throughout.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains.  (Kevin Costner -Bull Durham)

And they would have gotten away with it if it wasnt for those meddling kids

Unless I misread the stories, not too much if your iPhone or iPad is not nearby.

As to the original topic, yes, there is no such thing as being too cautious.

-Dave

That is a real shame and doesn't increase our trust in humanity.  The "gloom and doomers" will have a field day with this news.  Makes me glad that I don't collect Lionel trains, but have all fairly easy to replace items.

Art

That's some conspiracy theory.

quote:

The internet is much WORSE than that, it allows NSA to snooping private parties.

I don't care much about the NSA. I am not doing anything they'd find interesting. I am more concerned about Google and Apple. The only Apple product I own is a classic IPOD, with no Store account.

People are voluntarily being tracked, some insurance companies have a device for your car, and I recently read about a personal device for health tracking that is being used by health/life insurance companies in Europe. Scary stuff.

Rob,

   Unfortunately there a lots and lots of thieves in the world, got to admit this was some real evil planning here.

PCRR/Dave

CW I know people who use a Fitbit for health tracking reasons, how much longer before a company of some kind, insurance or what have you requires you to not only wear one so they can monitor your life for unhealthy behavior but makes you have it 24/7 or you don't get insured or you get screwed with a higher rate based on what they see as a high level of unhealthy activity.

Jerry

Here is the NY Times article on insurance company health tracking

Just goes to prove what I have been saying for years, there should be a test and permit to have children. the damage being done to the society of the future by parents like these is immeasurable.

OK, Maybe I am missing something, but who got robbed? I think its just terrible that people do these bad things, but, who was robbed? Thanks.

A retired Corrections Officer named Charles Leary...Who obviously didn't pay much attention to the people he used to watch over at whatever facility he worked at...one would think he could spot people with nefarious intentions seeing he spent his career working in a jail.

Look at the "cut" of that mother/son tandem ...you do not need Scotland Yard to figure out they might be riff raff !

Does anyone else think we might be missing a few sandwiches from this picnic?

Thieves are not necessarily intelligent. They were most likely doing the exact same thing to others who bought trains from them. They simply resell what they've stolen to the next guy that they then steal from. They're flipping the trains that they steal.

Yes, and what bothers me is that it appears that he may have know he was buying stolen trains from these crooks and now he complains when they steal from him. 

the part that amazes me is they always came in with a big blue tub! if i was in that business i'd just show up with a box truck and a 2 wheel dolly when genius boy is checking out what i brought him i would fix it so i would only need 1 trip to his house! sometimes you just have to pay attention! i guess growing up in Chicago has taught me to be observant . 

quote:

Yes, and what bothers me is that it appears that he may have know he was buying stolen trains from these crooks and now he complains when they steal from him. 

How would anybody know whether the goods they are purchasing are stolen?

What was the reason for bringing in the big blue tub?

hello DennisB...............

Now that is funny !!!!!  In other hand, I am conventional.

Tiffany

Hello C W Burfle.......

The NSA doesn't care about you either and they control Apple and Google too .

Tiffany

While it makes perfect sense once Dennis stated it, I'll admit that thought did not immediately cross my mind when first reading the post. 

To someone in the line of work of dealing with criminals every day for an entire career, that sort of thing might be more of an immediate connecting of the dots (of course it's easier now that they've been caught to over-analyze this, hindsight being 20-20 and all). 

I'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt that he wouldn't at the time have had any reason to expect he was purchasing stolen goods.   (which I believe we are all guessing at, though it very well may be true - nothing in the story alluded to an elaborate train stealing/selling scheme, it only talked of this one man's experience with the perpetrators.  If the story is updated, we may learn Dennis' theory to be correct, but at this time, it looks like a theory only, at least based on the write-up)

I probably wouldn't consider that alone as a flag, depending on what kind of trains were being sold and whether they were boxed, etc.  I envision a storage tub similar to the ones many of us may use at home.  Especially if the trains being sold were older without boxes, I would consider that a reasonable method to protect them in transit.

-Dave