Friday, March 23, 2012

Mail Thief

Several weeks ago I purchased a few items from Sugar Boutique. If you haven't checked out Sugar, make sure you do! They have a GORGEOUS selection of clothes. Some of the items I bought were Mother's Day gifts for my mom and one was a dress for myself. When I came home from the West Coast, Erik said he never received a package. So I decided to call the store and see if they had a tracking number. The girls were extremely helpful and tracked down the package. It was delivered a few days after I purchased it. 
I assumed it got lost in the mail so I called the USPS. They opened up an investigation and learned it was delivered to my home and left on the front porch. I was baffled. It was a pretty large box so there was no way we could have missed it. 

A few days went by and I got a strange feeling that maybe someone stole it. I felt kind of violated. I had no idea where to begin looking for a mail thief. But then I spoke to a friend who is a local police officer. Apparently stealing mail is a VERY serious crime. In fact, it is a federal offense. Theft of US mail is investigated by the US Postal Inspection Service and is a Federal offense for which the maximum penalty can be incarceration in a Federal Penitentiary. 

I decided to start my own investigation. A sweet boy lives down the street and I pay him every so often to come and mow the lawn and help plant flowers. I went and spoke to him first. I told him that someone stole a box off my porch and the first person to tell me who is was would get 20 bucks. Sure enough, 5 minutes later one of the teenagers in the neighborhood came over and told me he saw another teenager steal the box. He saw the kid grab it off my porch and then bragged to the other kids that he was going to sell whatever was inside to a pawn shop. These darn teenagers are really getting mischievous these days!

I had to make a choice, call the police and get the child in some serious trouble or go and confront him myself...  

The hard part... the boy is an incredible tennis player. He plays on Dorman High School's Varsity team and is expecting to go to college on tennis scholarships. I am pretty sure if I called the cops and he was convicted of stealing the stuff he would get kicked off the tennis team and his entire future would be down the drain. Not to mention he would get sent to the Juvenile Detention Center. I decided to confront him myself. 

I think I scared the crap out of the kid. I explained the severity of stealing mail and told him several kids saw him take my package. At first he denied it and exclaimed, "Why would I steal your box? What would I do with a woman's dress?" He just told on himself. I never told him what was stolen from me I just told him it was a box. He knew he was caught. "If you didn't steal it then how did you know there was a dress inside the box?" But he continued to deny it. So I told him the police would proceed with their investigation and he could get kicked out of school and off the tennis team. I said if my stuff was returned in 24 hours I would drop all of the charges. Twenty minutes later his buddy showed up at my door with a bag full of my stuff. I'll be honest, I wanted to slap the kid across his face. But I smiled and thanked him for returning my belongings and told him that I would tell the police that they could drop the investigation. 

I found out today the same child has vandalized our neighbor's car (with black spray paint), has spit in young girl's faces and cussed at them on a daily basis, has pooped on a neighbor's front porch, and ruined the community pool. Oh I forgot to mention he egged two houses and spray painted another neighbor's garage. People have tried to talk to his father and he doesn't seem to care that his child is the neighborhood terrorist. 

What do you think we should do? Should I go speak to his father? Call his tennis coach? Reach out to him personally? I feel like a lack of parental guidance is probably his main issue and he is seeking attention. But at this point he is terrorizing the young children in the neighborhood and causing a ridiculous amount of problems. I would appreciate any suggestions! 

24 comments:

  1. That is awful!! I worry about that all the time living downtown. I'd go to the coach and explain situation and that father seems uninterested. Most kids are more respectful / scared to disappoint their coaches in high school than their parents! Sad but true.

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  2. Hi Jaime! Love the blog by the way- long time reader (first time commenter). What an exercise on how to stay calm cool and collected! I agree with Sweet Caroline to approach the coach. Especially if the father figure does not seem to care, perhaps his tennis coach can have more of an impact on him and can get through to him. Sitting out a few matches may be just the thing to straighten him up- especially if he hopes to play in college. Will you update us all on what you decide to do?

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  3. Don't reach out to him personally- Kids that age don't care what you have to say, when they're doing such horrible things! Hell yes, go to his tennis coach or someone. What a mess he is.

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  4. I would avoid confrontation, you have already tried to reason with him and gave him a chance if something else happens I would just go to the police and through their investigation they would find he's a troubled young man who needs some guidance and maybe a night in juvi will do it!

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  5. That is horrible! I would definitely reach out to the school -- perhaps the coach in conjunction with a guidance counselor?

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  6. I am shocked the dad doesn't seem to care especially if this has anything to do with losing a tennis scholarship. In St. Louis the high powered/on track for a college scholarship academy is $1000 per month. You would think if his scholarship was possibly on the line he would care. I would definitely go to the tennis coach/school. Glad you got your package back! That is such a pain!

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  7. Oh gracious, this is a toughie. His father really needs to wake up & take the reins. I'd maybe try to contact the coach (or the authorities if it happens again) but be careful my friend, because it sounds like he is capable of vengeance. Hopefully he'll be away for school soon and will stop harrassing everyone!

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  8. OH. MY. GOSH! Jaime! What in the world? That is AWFUL! What kid in their right mind, with decent upbringing thinks to do these things. Definitely reach out to the coach and guidance counselor. Something needs to be done. I am so sorry you had to go through this but I'm glad you got your items. I am just in shock though. That is ridiculous!

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  9. Prosecute to fullest extent.Otherwise he will keep doing what he has been and everyone will suffer.If the results of his actions have consequences,he may change.If there are no consequences,it will only escalate.

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  10. talking to him again personally is a great way to ensure that you are on the receiving end of at least one of the things you've mentioned have happened to other people. don't rule out the possibility that he gave back your stuff simply because he couldn't think of a way out of it, and may decide to get back at you for embarrassing him.

    try once with the coach. if they seem uninterested, talk to the police the next time you hear of something going on in the neighborhood. some people only learn the hard way, especially these days.

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  11. That sucks! I would definitely go talk to the coach. Hope you don't run into any more trouble with him stealing your mail...or worse!

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  12. I would recommend that you contact the police department and tell them you want to file a police report. Find out how long you have to file charges if you choose to do so. I would ask them to contact this young man and his family and let them know a report has been filed. Make sure you know the names of everyone you spoke to in your neighborhood. If he is under the age of 18, the matter could be handled in juvenile court. If so, then he would not have a record as an adult. He is an example of the gifted atheletes we hear about all the time that think because of who they are that they are beyond the law. He needs to be put in his place because he will continue his actions because of his ego and attitude.

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  13. Holy Cow! The police need to get involved. Pops needs to be awakened. This has escalated beyond a teenager pulling a few stupid pranks. The professionals need to handle him, not you. The coach- What can he do? Besides talk to him and make him more angry than he already is. Sitting out a few matches probably wouldn't even phase this kid. Clearly, he is a TROUBLED young man...

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  14. Go to the police. If he does that to you and has a rap list of a million other things he's done; he will continue to do such. Just file a complaint so they have a record of it. He's choosing this behavior.

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  15. We have really awful youth in our neighborhood and as awful as it sounds I would recommend you go to the police because his actions clearly show his parent's don't care and honestly he doesn't sound like the type of individual who deserves to go to college for tennis.

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  16. You are a far nicer person than I am! I would have gone straight to the police first thing. With that being said, I would absolutely go to the police.

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  17. First off, I'm horrified it's a Dorman student, because I graduated there a few years ago. I'd tell the police though, he seems like he needs the authorities to explain to him that he can't keep acting this way and breeze through life.

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  18. This is the type of person who is very likely destined for a life of crime. They have no concept of right or wrong. Actually, scratch that. They know right from wrong.......but they just don't care. They have no authority in their life. Absolutely no consequence for their actions. Until the police get involved, this person will continue doing this stuff all the time. Eventually, the crimes will probably get more serious. Once this person has severe consequences, they will realize they can't get away with this crap. But I honestly do think it needs to start with the police. It's hard to imagine anything else getting results. That's my two cents.

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  19. WOW! What a choice you have to make here. I think reaching out to him may leave you personally exhausted, but it's a good idea for wanting to help someone whom you know may be headed in the wrong direction. For taking the box and it being a federal offense, and knowing what all he's accomplished crime wise, I believe I would have to turn him in, but sooner would have been better. You are certainly at a crossroads. I admire you for talking to him personally.

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  20. Oh, keep us posted on the outcome!

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  21. Ugh, I know what you mean about feeling violated. I have to say that I honestly feel it is way worse here in the south than it ever was up north. We used to leave our garage door open all the time when we were home...now we are nuts about closing it even then, because one morning someone walked up into our garage and stole my $600 Trek bike right off its rack. I put up flyers about it and offered a reward for information/for the bike itself to be returned and never heard anything at all :-/ But yeah, talk about feeling violated, especially as this was done while we were home! (the bike was there when I got back from my run that morning; a couple hours later it was gone when we went outside to talk to a neighbor)

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  22. I would definitely get the police involved because from all of the other things he's done along with stealing your packages, he clearly needs a rude awakening and be set straight!

    That totally sucks.... you are far nicer than me, Jaime!

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  23. Coach. I put money on the fact that tennis means the world to him...It's his status, his ticket to college, his identity. Any good, solid coach will bench him and teach him a HARD lesson. Some of the most valuable life lessons can be taught through sports. Through all of that, parents will find out, principal will find out, even community will find out...etc. I wouldn't RUIN his life by calling the cops. With my husband being in the law enforcement field...I know what that can do to a kids life, record, etc. Maybe a hard and rude wake up call is just the meds he needs. Talk to coach. Hopefully he's got a good head on his shoulders.

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  24. Honestly i vote call the cops... he seems like a terrible person and it seems that if he is stealing now it will only escalate to something much worse when he is an adult.

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