the game is afoot!

If you're a friend of mine, no doubt you've heard of this:

http://marmaladememoirs.blogspot.com/2007/02/robbers-are-lame.html

http://landoflauralot.blogspot.com/2007/02/fah-who-foraze-dah-who-doraze.html

Unfortunately, the only beings dumber than the robbers in this tale are probably the cops. That means that we need to recover the stolen articles ourselves.

If I were a robber, no doubt I'd sell the items on eBay. I wonder how much stuff on eBay is hot. It would sure explain the availability and surprising condition of certain things on there. I don't think this is the case in our current matter. Any crook who passes up a brand new iMac probably doesn't actually know how to use a computer. Strangely, I would assume such low-lifes do know how to use a Playstation 2, but whatever. Anyway, If we happen to find the exact items stolen on eBay and originating at or near Salt Lake City, we might at least have a case. The beauty of it is that we'll have the offenders' information. Like I said though, eBay probably isn't their method in this particular case.

If there's one thing State Street in Salt Lake City is known for it's its impressive amount of pawn shops. I'll bet the items are all within one of these shops. There's a real good chance that the thieves waited a couple of days to pawn in order to avoid suspicion. If they hit the shops soon, there's still a chance that buyers for the items haven't arrived yet. If we split up, we can probably get the correct one before too many of the items go out the door. Perhaps we could question the shopkeepers about the details of their clientele while it's still fresh on their minds.

Of course I also realize that the vice community of thieves probably works some kind of middle-man technique in order to make the hot items less traceable (just like in the legitimate business world too I suppose). Still, though, it'd probably be nicer to get the actual items back for cheap rather than new unfamiliar items expensively.