The Ballad of the Stolen Mustang
Jul. 24th, 2011 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeOr, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Someone tell us
Who took our car?"
One of the reasons I've been bad about posting Real Entries here, besides the fact that it's been too hot and sticky for me to type or even think of something to post, is that our stolen car has been returned.
I might have Tweeted about this, back in March or April, that my folks' 1990 Ford Mustang convertible had been stolen from the place where my dad had been storing it (which wasn't even that much of a high crime area, but this is proof criminals can hit without warning). He filed a report with the W------ Police, who weren't too hopeful about its recovery, but were doing what they could to find it.
Flash forward to the end of June: a call came to my dad from an East Boston Police detective that the Mustang had been recovered from a chop shop where they'd executed a search warrant on unrelated charges. Possibly drug-related, but I haven't heard that part of it. Our fear was that it would be completely stripped, but my dad went to check on it as it was being held as material evidence. Luckily, the car is in better shape than he expected: the interior has been stripped out, the doors and fenders have been removed, but the important parts, like the catalytic converter (which expert choppers tend to pull out first since it sells for good money), but other than that, the car is restorable. He's planning to ask his friend "Vic" to help him put it back together and find a new interior for it.
The car came home to us recently, ironically, on a day I was going out to run some errands: I was waiting at the corner of our street, waiting for the pedestrian light when the ramp truck from the impound yard came past me, carrying what looked like a derelict car, and which I quickly realized was our poor Mustang.
It's battered, but it's back and it's ours. That's all that matters.
And the little rat bastard who received it is having his day in court tomorrow: my dad will be there for the hearing, and I've prepared a statement which I want to have read at that hearing. I was concerned that victim statements might be allowed only for murder or rape trials or something like that, but the detective tells us that it's definitively allowed and even welcomed. So, without further ado, here is me speaking my mind to the little rat:
"On the night of my parents' 30th anniversary, after a small dinner party with some close friends at Longfellow's Wayside Inn, in the town of Sudbury, my dad surprised my mother with a white Mustang convertible. This was a gift to take the place of a battered red Falcon convertible that we had had for a number of years and which he had had to pass on to someone who could restore it. We drove the Mustang for several years, tooling along the shore road in North Hampton, New Hampshire in the summer, or driving through the Concord, Massachusetts area in the autumn, admiring the leaves turning colors, enjoying the ride and enjoying each other's company.
"This car is more than a vehicle to us. It is a cherished gift and a prized possession, to which a lot of happy memories are attached. But in being involved in the theft of our Mustang, you nearly took from us this treasure. Thankfully, the Boston Police recovered our treasure, and we can continue to make more memories with it, but it could have ended differently.
"Remember this, the next time someone tries to involve you in the reception of a stolen car: that car is some other person's pride and joy. It might be the first car that a college student bought with his or her own money, or a car where a couple had their first kiss or where someone asked their sweetheart to marry them, or the car that a couple drove to the hospital for the birth of their first child. Or it could well be the only car that someone owns, and which they need in order to get to work and support their family.
"One last thing: if this were the Old West, you'd be the equivalent of receiving a stolen horse and trying to disfigure the brands on someone else's mustang of a different kind. And remember their fate..."
I'm still sore from this, but I'm recovering. I know it's nothing compared to some of the crimes people have endured, but still: I feel as though we've been violated. And it angers me that some people can receive stolen property from others without a care as to where it came from and who lost it. It's one thing if we were rich and we could spare it. But we're not and the few things we own that make life more than just a round of working and breathing are therefore all the more precious to us. I just hope this guy sees the error of his ways and turns his life around. I don't expect him to become the Frank Abagnale of chop shops, but I hope he finds a more honest means to make a living.
Someone tell us
Who took our car?"
One of the reasons I've been bad about posting Real Entries here, besides the fact that it's been too hot and sticky for me to type or even think of something to post, is that our stolen car has been returned.
I might have Tweeted about this, back in March or April, that my folks' 1990 Ford Mustang convertible had been stolen from the place where my dad had been storing it (which wasn't even that much of a high crime area, but this is proof criminals can hit without warning). He filed a report with the W------ Police, who weren't too hopeful about its recovery, but were doing what they could to find it.
Flash forward to the end of June: a call came to my dad from an East Boston Police detective that the Mustang had been recovered from a chop shop where they'd executed a search warrant on unrelated charges. Possibly drug-related, but I haven't heard that part of it. Our fear was that it would be completely stripped, but my dad went to check on it as it was being held as material evidence. Luckily, the car is in better shape than he expected: the interior has been stripped out, the doors and fenders have been removed, but the important parts, like the catalytic converter (which expert choppers tend to pull out first since it sells for good money), but other than that, the car is restorable. He's planning to ask his friend "Vic" to help him put it back together and find a new interior for it.
The car came home to us recently, ironically, on a day I was going out to run some errands: I was waiting at the corner of our street, waiting for the pedestrian light when the ramp truck from the impound yard came past me, carrying what looked like a derelict car, and which I quickly realized was our poor Mustang.
It's battered, but it's back and it's ours. That's all that matters.
And the little rat bastard who received it is having his day in court tomorrow: my dad will be there for the hearing, and I've prepared a statement which I want to have read at that hearing. I was concerned that victim statements might be allowed only for murder or rape trials or something like that, but the detective tells us that it's definitively allowed and even welcomed. So, without further ado, here is me speaking my mind to the little rat:
"On the night of my parents' 30th anniversary, after a small dinner party with some close friends at Longfellow's Wayside Inn, in the town of Sudbury, my dad surprised my mother with a white Mustang convertible. This was a gift to take the place of a battered red Falcon convertible that we had had for a number of years and which he had had to pass on to someone who could restore it. We drove the Mustang for several years, tooling along the shore road in North Hampton, New Hampshire in the summer, or driving through the Concord, Massachusetts area in the autumn, admiring the leaves turning colors, enjoying the ride and enjoying each other's company.
"This car is more than a vehicle to us. It is a cherished gift and a prized possession, to which a lot of happy memories are attached. But in being involved in the theft of our Mustang, you nearly took from us this treasure. Thankfully, the Boston Police recovered our treasure, and we can continue to make more memories with it, but it could have ended differently.
"Remember this, the next time someone tries to involve you in the reception of a stolen car: that car is some other person's pride and joy. It might be the first car that a college student bought with his or her own money, or a car where a couple had their first kiss or where someone asked their sweetheart to marry them, or the car that a couple drove to the hospital for the birth of their first child. Or it could well be the only car that someone owns, and which they need in order to get to work and support their family.
"One last thing: if this were the Old West, you'd be the equivalent of receiving a stolen horse and trying to disfigure the brands on someone else's mustang of a different kind. And remember their fate..."
I'm still sore from this, but I'm recovering. I know it's nothing compared to some of the crimes people have endured, but still: I feel as though we've been violated. And it angers me that some people can receive stolen property from others without a care as to where it came from and who lost it. It's one thing if we were rich and we could spare it. But we're not and the few things we own that make life more than just a round of working and breathing are therefore all the more precious to us. I just hope this guy sees the error of his ways and turns his life around. I don't expect him to become the Frank Abagnale of chop shops, but I hope he finds a more honest means to make a living.