UNDERCOVER PAWN: Des Moines' pawn shops refuse "stolen" items
Aaron Brilbeck Staff Writer
February 11, 2010
DES MOINES - Back in November, several teens were charged with ransacking homes on the South Side of Des Moines. Police believed some of the things they stole, like laptop computers and other high end electronics, could have been pawned off.So we wondered how tough it would be for teens equipped with a hidden camera to try to pawn off about $2,000 worth of home electronics for about $100. The good news is none of the pawn shops we went to took the bait. The bad news is none of them called police.
At Des Moines Gun and Pawn a man who later identified himself as the owner can be seen on the hidden camera looking through the box of electronics, but doesn't buy. "What else you got? Camera I won't do. Laptops I won't. Car stereo no too," he said. He suggested our undercover teens go somewhere else. "Try A-to-Z, Second and Euclid right on the corner," he said, "They might use some of this stuff." So we confronted him, wondering why he didn't call police if he suspected the goods were stolen. "It's my business. I know what I'm doing... I'm not judge and jury," he said.
That seemed to be the case with other area pawn shops too. At Mr. Money the clerk seemed more concerned about chargers for the lap top computers than whether they were stolen. When we confronted her, she admitted the electronics looked stolen, but would not call police. "Um, I didn't call police. I can't assume it's stolen. I can only not take it," she said.
At U.S. Pawn, the owner was also suspicious, asking the teens on hidden camera, "Where'd you get all this stuff?" He apparently wasn't satisfied with the teens' answer and sent them away, but did not call police. When asked why, he replied, "If I called police every time I was suspicious they'd just have to put a police station in here."
Des Moines Police admit it's difficult to prove someone is bringing stolen goods into pawn shops, even if the merchandise clearly looks stolen. Sgt. Dave Murillo heads up the police Pawn Shop Task Force. He said "They could call all day and it wouldn't do anything." The problem is, Murillo explains, without an identifier like a serial number there's no way to prove an item is stolen and no way to track the victim. He said most people don't bother to get serial numbers. "What's the serial number on your lawn mower?" he asked as an example.
Murillo admits logging serial numbers on valuables could help get them back if their stolen. But don't expect pawn shops to help much. They aren't required to call police if they suspect stolen items are brought into their stores. And, Murillo added, generally the stores don't have the time to deal with stolen merchandise or call police. "They don't want to lose money," he said, "Time is money. So they shoo them off."
Copyright © 2010, WHO-TV
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There just is no winning local TV station sets up a sting and not a single pawnbroker buys it. But because they didn't call the police they have "bad morals", WTF.
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