My Experience (Score 1)

Well, I have been the victim of this little problem. The police cannot do anything unless you can prove the equipment is yours. Even if you know where the equipment is and know who took it, you have to prove that they did take it.

This was exactly what I was told by local police officers.

When the thieves used my personal information to get free tech support and replacement parts for the computer they stole from me (they conned Gateway into giving them my personal information, yay me!), I attempted to contact the FBI for Identity Theft.

Nothing was done about it. When I contacted the FBI to inquire about why my case was dropped, they politely informed me that my case could not be considered a priority because there was no monetary damages.

So its ok to steal someone's identity as long as you do not incur any monetary damages.

I have completely lost faith in the law and court system. But I bet if I decided to take the law into my own hands and retrieve my goods for myself, poof....instant jail time for me.

So, all in all, there is no legal avenue other than suing the people for your computers (which is what the lawyer I hired told me to do). I thought it was absurd that I have to sue to get my stuff back.

Even after all this, the lawyer told me it was a 50/50 chance I would get the stuff back even if I won. Plus, how do you justify $2000 in legal fees to recover a $600 computer.

Fucking, cops, feds, lawyers, judges and courts. To hell with them all.