Question for the cops/about the cops...

[unstable bob gable]

I posted a ways back about my situation with a guy in Ohio concerning my fuel pumps for my T-Type. Short version: a couple of months ago I sent my fuel pumps to a guy to be rebuilt. He never called me when he was supposed to, and in gen'l is hard to get in touch with. Right before Labor day wekend I got a hold of him, and he said he would get the pumps done that week end and get 'em out to me. Since I had him on the phone I gave him my credit card info so he could be paid. Well, 3 weeks later I don't have my pumps, I haven't heard from him, and he isn't answering his phone. So, my question is this: would the cops in his town be able to do anything for me if I called them and explained my situation? Or isn't this "hard core" enough for police involvement?

[Mike]

they should, it could be considered theft by deception or business theft.....

[Untamed]

While it could be construed as theft, the local police department may refer you to a local lawyer to begin small claims procedings. You'd need to demonstrate obvious efforts to get your item back before the lawyer would even file the paperwork.

I don't think the cops will get involved unless a lawyer approached them with a law suit against the guy that he has failed to respond to. Then they could get a warrant for his arrest. Until that time, they aren't going to act as a collection agent for you.

[Mike]

this is true, but he would have to file an incident report with that local pd, stating that his situation.....then give that report to a small claims lawyer who could contact the dude that has his parts
.

[Pampered-Z]

This would probably fall into small claims court.

I looked into taking the tuner that ripped me off to small claims court. I have a good friend in NJ (yah, hard to believe I have friends) that is a lawyer and was going to take care of my stuff for me. You should be able to put in a plea with small claims court and have him summoned to appear. My problem was I had no way to get his address to issue the summons. If you can summit this in NJ, here are the links I still have saved from my theft!

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/prose/index.htm

http://www.dix.army.mil/SJA/ARTICLE-SMALL%20CLAIMS.htm


I'm having dinner with my friend (the lawyer) and will see if he knows if you can go after him in NJ or if you need to do it in Ohio.

JB

[79T/A]

This is a touchy one. If you were doing it here, you would go to the police department in that town and file an incident report. You would then have the opportunity to step over to the municipal court and file the appropriate criminal charge. In this case, it would be theft and/or fraud. It would likely be investigated by a detective depending upon the dollar amount.

Don't know how it would work in Ohio, though. What town? Google their local pd and talk to a supervisor. See what they have to say. All you'd lose is some time and a few bucks for the phone call.

[Dark_Knight7096]

could anything be done federally because of interstate commerce and and all those fun loopholes?

[unstable bob gable]

I have the e mail and phone number for the cops where the guy lives, so if I don't get a peep from him by Monday, I'll give him one more call. Then, I call the cops.

[mtnhopper1]

Originally Posted by Untamed

While it could be construed as theft, the local police department may refer you to a local lawyer to begin small claims procedings. You'd need to demonstrate obvious efforts to get your item back before the lawyer would even file the paperwork.

I don't think the cops will get involved unless a lawyer approached them with a law suit against the guy that he has failed to respond to. Then they could get a warrant for his arrest. Until that time, they aren't going to act as a collection agent for you.

The end result here is right, but a couple points:
-You don't need to contact the police before you start a civil suit.
-The cops may get involved whether not you take action. In fact, taking action might hurt you depending on what action you take. If you go kick in the door, the cops might not be inclined to help.

Originally Posted by cbrrmike

this is true, but he would have to file an incident report with that local pd, stating that his situation.....then give that report to a small claims lawyer who could contact the dude that has his parts
.

Not true. The criminal and civil facets are separate. I don't have real world experience with the criminal aspect, but you don't need to file a report before you can start a civil suit. If you want to press criminal charges, you have to contact the local police and file a claim to press charges. From there its up to the DA whether there is enough to actually bring the charges.

Originally Posted by 79T/A

This is a touchy one. If you were doing it here, you would go to the police department in that town and file an incident report. You would then have the opportunity to step over to the municipal court and file the appropriate criminal charge. In this case, it would be theft and/or fraud. It would likely be investigated by a detective depending upon the dollar amount.

Don't know how it would work in Ohio, though. What town? Google their local pd and talk to a supervisor. See what they have to say. All you'd lose is some time and a few bucks for the phone call.

THis is what I said above about the criminal aspect. Call the local PD to press charges.

Originally Posted by Dark_Knight7096

could anything be done federally because of interstate commerce and and all those fun loopholes?

This is actually true. Because the guy does business interstate, you could bring your claims in Federal court if you wanted to, although there is a minimum dollar amount that is well above what you gave him.

Basically it goes like this:

The criminal and civil aspects are separate. The criminal part gets him in trouble, and you MIGHT get your money back once the red tape clears. The civil part is solely to get you money back.

As far as understand it, to institute a criminal investigation, you would have to contact the local PD to press charges.

To start a civil action, you would probably have to go to small claims court because the amount is probably under the threshhold for regular court. You would be able to start the action in NJ or OH. Also, small claims court can be done without an attorney; it would help to talk to one, but you can do it yourself. Call up the NJ court and ask them how to file a claim. I know in NY the court clerk will help you fill out the required forms if you go down there. I'm sure NJ has the same sort of thing.

The only tricky part will be service of the summons, which has to be dome according to particular rules. It might be necessary for you to pay a service company to serve him in Ohio. I'm not really sure how small claims works, exactly, but like I said, the court clerk will tell you what you need to do.

Stepping back a minute, sometime a good old fashioned threat will do. A threatening letter from an attorney sometimes is enough to get an unscrupulous businessman on the phone.

I'm not admitted in NJ, so I can't represent you, but if you want to talk about it, PM or call me.

[jims69camaro]

Originally Posted by mtnhopper1

Stepping back a minute, sometimes a good old fashioned threat will do. A threatening letter from an attorney [or an official looking letter, being careful not to say "lawyer, attorney, law office" or like verbiage] sometimes is enough to get an unscrupulous businessman on the phone

sometimes this is all it takes. also, if you've ever received a subpeona, and you have one on hand, you can make your letter look like the subpeona, of course still paying heed to the above caveat. the reasons why, if not completely apparent, are that you do not want him to have grounds to file suit against you for representing yourself as an attorney, lawyer or law office.

this type of sneaky correspondence is in rampant use by collection agencies.