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Stolen Laptop - Caught the thief  

post #1 of 47
5/3/06 at 6:21pm
Thread Starter 
As many of you may know that my laptop got stolen 2 weeks ago and not to mention that he also stole my rommate's CC and dorm key. The thief swiped the CC at a drug store and this gave us some clues... we finally got a photo of the thief and he happens to live a floor below me.

Now, I am a UC Berkeley student and I have finals in two weeks. What happened during the past two weeks was that I lost my appetite, unable to study due to lack of notes that were in the laptop, poor grades, and too tramautized to study any further.

What are the circumstances that I can do to damage this guy's life? Getting busted and going to jail aint enough. I want to sue him and get him expelled from UC Berkeley and have this on his record which will make his life even more harder.

Is it possible to press charge and sue him? I dont know any lawyers as of yet but I will talk with my parents and find out.

Any suggestions?
post #2 of 47
5/3/06 at 6:35pm
I'm glad you got your lappy back, but I wouldn't go that far...I think he got what he deserved and hopefully learned his lesson.
post #3 of 47
5/3/06 at 6:35pm
Standard law student disclaimer: the following is meant to be merely my personal opinion, not to be taken as actual legal advice.

I doubt you'd actually be able to prevail in a civil suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress; you might be able to bring an action for trespass to chattels, or conversion, but the expense of a lawsuit probably isn't worth it for the damages you'd get, which I suspect would be less than the value of the laptop.

Given the value of your laptop, the act of stealing it was probably grand, not petty larceny, therefore it'd be a felony rather than a misdemeanor. I'd suggest contacting the police, and going from there. And of course, do contact the administration at Berkeley; I'm sure they won't take too well to the fact that this bozo stole a laptop and a credit card, and I suspect they'd want to take some disciplinary action themselves. To be sure of this, you ought to take a look through the university's own regulations and code of conduct; if anything, I suspect that stealing class-related information would be a violation of the Honor Code, which I assume Berkeley has.
post #4 of 47
5/3/06 at 6:39pm
i caught a thief that stole my watercooling parts on the day i was going to do my build. i beat his ass too get my glasses and jacket of of him, the tweaker would not give it up without a fight. he bleed i never got hit.

if i were you id have a bat and a knee shot as he walked out his dorm room then go in and get your stuff lol. ok thats my idea probably wrong for you but every hour you wait that laptop is getting smoked away in a glass pipe.

atleast call the cops now not in an hour or 5 minutes now!!!!!
post #5 of 47
5/3/06 at 7:04pm
I'm glad to hear you cought the guy, but did you get the laptop back?

I agree with flanken that it's unlikely you'll be able to get a civil case out of it, but you could press charges and f@@k him over pretty good. BTW, in addition to grand larceny I'm pretty sure you've got him for CC fraud (but then I'm a biologist not a lawyer and anything I say that may be perceived as "legal advice" is legally meaningless). I'm pretty sure I do remeber there being something in the UC policies that being convicted of a felony while a student are gounds for expulsion (I went to UCSB).

Now, as for not being able to eat/study becasue of the theft and your grades dropping, I think you need to relax a bit. It's just college and it's just a laptop. I understand it's a personal violation and all of that, and I am sorry that it happend. But if you let yourself get too attached to material stuff then you're only asking for emotional problems when somtehing like this happnes, and these problems will impede you from getting through it.
post #6 of 47
5/3/06 at 7:26pm
You didn't say you got the laptop back, does that mean he still has it? If so, I'd call the cops immediately to get it before he has any more time to do things to it. I'm sure if you bring it up to administration, he will have some severe penalties placed on him..especially if he stole a credit card.

As for how you're feeling, it's perfectly understandable for you to feel that way, since you had your privacy invaded and had something valuable taken from you. It takes some time to get over these kinds of things. However, don't let that ass dictate how you feel any more than he already has. You have control over the situation now, and it can go any way you want it to. You don't want to have to look back and make excuses about why you had bad grades this semester. Borrow other people's notes, read the books, etc; you still have time to do well.. I know I never studied until a couple days before my finals anyway in college.

If you keep feeling this way, I think it would be a good idea to go and talk to a counseler at your school. I know they had free counseling at my college, and many people I knew took advantage of it. Good luck kicking the guy's ass.
post #7 of 47
5/3/06 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your replies. I am going the Haas Business route which is stressing for me. Anyways, i didnt get the laptop back. I have to wait for my detective to get things straighten up first. I dont want to confront them and create more problems but i have the situation under control. Thanks again guys.
post #8 of 47
5/3/06 at 7:33pm
Don't confront them without having the cops there. What he did should definitely be grounds for expulsion and I'd assume getting expelled would stay on his record for many years.

A civil case isn't worth it if you get everything back. If he deleted important files then definitely go for it.
post #9 of 47
5/3/06 at 7:58pm
I hope you had reported this to the appropriate campus authorities. That way there will be a paper trail, and you might actually be able to appeal to the faculty regarding your GPA. I dunno.
If it meant the difference between a truly great GPA and a mediocre one, they might listen. But if you're an average student, they're not gonna care much.
post #10 of 47
5/3/06 at 9:04pm
sorry to hear your lappy got stolen. this is seems to be pretty common in college dorms. not to sound condisending but i bet you back your files up next semester. as far as kicking his ass, that will do you no good, and might even screw your case up against him, BUT, your friends randomly kicking his ass might get a point a cross. i cant stand a thief and i can sit on a grudge for a year at least. let him drop his guard, then remind him he is a sub-human and doesnt deserve to goto berkly by breaking his thumbs. ever tried to use a keyboard with two cast on your hands....lol
anyways he will probably be exspelled and you wont ever have to see him again.


ps
if you do get your buddies to work him over, make sure you are somewhere ppl know you, for legal reasons. where i come from, he would be doing everything in his power to make this right or he would be typing with his nose. be smart about this.
good luck.
post #11 of 47
5/3/06 at 9:27pm
RIP that god damn son of a bitch apart, make sure he never gets a job
do anything and everything to guarentee his life is fuct over permanently
no one should be allowed to get away with CC fraud and Theif over $1K
post #12 of 47
5/3/06 at 9:51pm
Are you freaking serious? You're too traumatised to study, and lost your appetite? We're turning into a bunch of pussies in this country.

Just have him arrested. Over a thousand is a felony, and that will follow him for life.
post #13 of 47
5/3/06 at 10:04pm
There are many things to do in this case, but one of them is not to beat the crap out each other. Yeah he took your laptop, caused you mental and physical annoyance. He got now into jail and now probably will be kicked out of school. If your the smarter man, you would probably pick up the pieces of yourself and get back to your degree.
post #14 of 47
5/3/06 at 10:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unicorn01
Are you freaking serious? You're too traumatised to study, and lost your appetite? We're turning into a bunch of pussies in this country.
He said he goes to Berkeley
post #15 of 47
5/3/06 at 10:07pm
Quote:
Are you freaking serious? You're too traumatised to study, and lost your appetite? We're turning into a bunch of pussies in this country. Just have him arrested. Over a thousand is a felony, and that will follow him for life.
That's quite possibly the stupidest comment I've read here in NBF.
post #16 of 47
5/3/06 at 10:21pm
your story doesn't make much sense to me as to how he stole the cc at a drug store (whats a cc doing there?) and how you got your hands on a photo of him in the act of stealing it. sorry if this seems alittle rude to ask, but your blabbing your mouth here so i wanna hear it.
post #17 of 47
5/3/06 at 10:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sportzlvr2006
your story doesn't make much sense to me as to how he stole the cc at a drug store (whats a cc doing there?) and how you got your hands on a photo of him in the act of stealing it. sorry if this seems alittle rude to ask, but your blabbing your mouth here so i wanna hear it.
The OP said "swiped." While that could mean "stolen," he probably meant it as "used," i.e. the guy bought something at a drugstore with it. He probably meant to say the cc was stolen along with the laptop from his dorm.
post #18 of 47
5/3/06 at 10:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bumjin
As many of you may know that my laptop got stolen 2 weeks ago and not to mention that he also stole my rommate's CC and dorm key. The thief swiped the CC at a drug store and this gave us some clues... we finally got a photo of the thief and he happens to live a floor below me.
Yes...the CC was on his dorm.
post #19 of 47
5/3/06 at 11:59pm
the theif is a fool, u never steal stuff from place/people that are close to you, i'm not a thief, but commonsense is that you do stuff, where you are not recognisable. even if he had that thing over his face etc, what is this theif is carrying it around uni. and this guy, seen it and like seen a stick / scarch mark, that is noticable.
post #20 of 47
5/4/06 at 12:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bumjin
As many of you may know that my laptop got stolen 2 weeks ago and not to mention that he also stole my rommate's CC and dorm key. The thief swiped the CC at a drug store and this gave us some clues... we finally got a photo of the thief and he happens to live a floor below me.

Now, I am a UC Berkeley student and I have finals in two weeks. What happened during the past two weeks was that I lost my appetite, unable to study due to lack of notes that were in the laptop, poor grades, and too tramautized to study any further.

What are the circumstances that I can do to damage this guy's life? Getting busted and going to jail aint enough. I want to sue him and get him expelled from UC Berkeley and have this on his record which will make his life even more harder.

Is it possible to press charge and sue him? I dont know any lawyers as of yet but I will talk with my parents and find out.

Any suggestions?

If you have a photo and you have him using your friends CC get the police to arrest him. Should be a pretty much open/shut case. The school should expell him from the University for a felony. I mean, if not, sheesh they are hard up for students.

I wouldn't take anything into your own hands, however, as that'll very likely get you into trouble. I know it may be tempting.

A month or so after moving to New York my apartment was burglarized and my roommate lost her two laptops and I lost a digital camera. We never found out who but I know the anger that your feeling. I also can sympathize with the desire for retribution on him. I certainly wanted to do so myself, but mine was a faceless evil.

I hope you get the cops on him and get your laptop back.

Tellerve
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