Burglary in San Francisco--please help

[DrTebi]

The following items have been stolen from my apartment on Monday morning, December 6th 2010:

Rolleiflex 6008i with Rollei Zeiss Makro-Planar 4/120 HFT PQS lens and 6x6 filmback
Serial Numbers: 707260001 and 8809144 respectively

Pentax Super Program with SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.4 lens

Macbook Pro 15" Laptop (silver)
Serial Number: W87160WLW0G
(there are also two obvious things about this mac--it has a long dent on the right hand side of the top, and it was upgraded to a 600 GB hard disk)

HP Mini Notebook WZ287UT#AB-A
Serial Number SCNU0351DJ-5


While I can live without the Pentax and the HP Notebook, the Rolleiflex was very valuable to me and the Macbook contained a tremendous amount of study/work of my girlfriend.

I offer a reward of $500 reward that leads to the actual recovery of either the Rolleiflex camera or the Macbook laptop.

This was a great shock to us, especially since this happened in the morning while I was actually in the bedroom sleeping. Someone just had the guts to walk in, quickly grab these four items, and walk out.

Ironically (this is a rangefinder forum), these were my only two SLR cameras. I am happy to say that they did not see the Plaubel Makina RF. Everything is always locked up from now on, including ourselves. What a sad life.

Thank you for reading, I hope that this will never happen to any one of you, it can be quite devastating.

P.S.: I apologize if this post is in the wrong forum, please move it if necessary.

 

[oftheherd]

First I am sorry for your loss. But your feelings are common to all people who suffer what you have. Don't be afraid to talk to friends about it, or seek professional help if necessary. It comes from the fact that our home is our castle. It is the safe place. Until something like this happens. Then where in the world can we be safe? Lucky for you, the perpetrator only stole, and didn't attack you. Also that he/she didn't have an opportunity to take more.

I hope the police can help recover your property, but frankly, that isn't the norm. Just be sure your doors and windows are always secure, what ever that takes. Consider an alarm system of some sort.

Again, I am sorry for your loss of both property and sense of security. The second is what you need to focus on now.

 

[Haigh]

Sorry for your loss. Hope it all turns out well.

 

[johannielscom]

<snip>

Everything is always locked up from now on, including ourselves. What a sad life.

<snip>

😕

You mean to say your house was not locked for the night? 😱


Sorry for your loss, though.

 

[Prest_400]

Nowadays it's impossible to trust anyone or anything.
Last week, my neighbor's house was broken into, he is on the opposite side of my street. His backyard ends on an obsucre street. Murphy's law never fails, he's got a dog, and the day he takes it with him, the house gets broken into.

I hope you retrieve something, track you local Craiglist and similar ad sites, sometimes they post an ad for getting rid of stolen stuff. Pawnshops, etc.
Go to Police as well! You don't mention anything about them; Perhaps they might come and find some fingerprints on anything.

 

[Beemermark]

Hopefully you went to the police. Pawn shops are required to list every item recieved. It's computerized and the police will watch that list for stolen items.

 

[vdonovan]

Sorry for your loss. Having your personal space violated like that can be VERY stressful, so take care of yourself.

Most important of all, you are safe. I'll admit though that when I read your post my first thought was "thank god they didn't get the Plaubel!"

 

[DrTebi]

what part of the city are you in?

I live in the Duboce Triangle area, across from the park.

 

[charjohncarter]

San Francisco has many pawn shops but you might canvass them. My friend had his Rollei stolen and the police said there was a Rollei or maybe just camera stolen registry.

 

[LeicaFan]

Sorry for your loss. Keep an eye out for craigslist postings. Your stuff might show up there.

 

[ElectroWNED]

you could post a WTB ad on Craigslist for something similar to your items (for an inflated price) and meet the guy with a baseball bat...

 

[BronicaLee]

That geniunely sucks! I hope you get your rollei back, it sounds like she's a beauty...

 

[jesse1dog]

I've been in a not so dissimilar situation to your girlfriend. Had some of my things stolen from a friend's house where I was staying. She lost more including her laptop but the complete emphasis was on her loss rather than mine. At the time I could see the sense of that but felt my feelings had been ignored just a bit. I found it to be a difficult situation which was never really resolved. How has your girl friend taken it?
You've experienced a shocking situation - space violated with you very vulnerable at the same time. Now you must feel that anything could have happened to you. That it didn't would seem to indicate an opportunist thief.
I really feel for the loss and shock that you have both had.

jesse

 

[bob338]

That's awful, what a horrible way to wake up.
I used to live in that neighborhood and I remember some of the spots that things like this used to show up...16th and Valencia, Civic Center, Mission Street pawnshops, Tenderloin pawnshops, etc. I'm sure you know where else to look. Check with the guy at Camera Heaven too.
**Just be prepared to pay to get your stuff back!**
Whatever you do, do not go out looking for your stuff with the intention of violently taking it back. If one of those guys at 16th has your stuff, you can bet they have a weapon too and they are probably a little better at using it than you are.
I once chased a guy down with a crow bar who had stolen my gym bag out of my car only to be confronted by a couple of his fellow car thieves in the middle of Market. No one helped me and I did not get my laundry back. I was lucky to get away without injury.
I'll keep an eye out for the Rollei on Cl, I check it everyday...

Bob

 

[Ronald M]

Shame to have to suffer this. Sorry.

Now you know how valuable it is to back up files, both on site and off site. Burn to some CD`s because they probably would not be stolen. Hide an external drive that runs time machine.

Mosy and some others back up to other servers. Good for fires etc.

As for cameras, hide the good stuff. Leave some junkers to be found.

And then there is insurance.

 

[johannielscom]

...

As for cameras, hide the good stuff. Leave some junkers to be found.

...

Yup, that's what I do. Anybody with an attentive eye can spot that impressive looking Nikon D1 in the living room. It's eleven years old and starting to fail in so many ways 😀
No goodies are in the living though.

 

[Honus]

It sucks being robbed. I had it happen to me about 25 years ago in the same neighborhood (on Germania St.). They took a TV and stereo and, like you, they missed my Plaubel Makina.

The police found the guy (a neighbor). Good luck recovering your gear.

 

[DrTebi]

Thank you for all your replies.

Just to clarify, it did not happen at night. It was between 8:30am and 10:30am, my girlfriend had left the house at 8:30, I slept until 10:30--during this time the thief must have come. We usually did not lock the doors during the day if someone was home--but surely that has changed now.

I contacted the police shortly after I noticed the theft. They were here, took a couple of notes in a scrapbook and went off--it seemed almost as if they were taking notes for statistics. They mentioned to maybe send in CSI for fingerprints. After about an hour nobody showed up, I called and they said they thought they would probably not find anything on the surfaces (a desk, tripod, shelf). I told them that there would be a good chance of finding something, as you cannot unmount the camera without touching the tripod, and eventually a fingerprint guy showed up. He could not really get anything except from the shelf, which however may very well all be my prints.

I appreciate all the tips that were posted. I realize that there must be a lot more thefts in this city than I ever imagined. And that it can even be a neighbor, or otherwise connected person, is shocking. Unfortunately I also have to suspect the workers that are working in the basement of the house--but that doesn't really help me much, as I can not just ask to police to search their houses.

So I am pretty stuck, but will visit a few pawn-shops (thank you for the location tips), camera shops, and craigslist. I have reported the serial numbers to the photo.net stolen registry, and will report these to the police as well.
If I should get lucky and find something, I will certainly be very careful and let the police handle it, rather than getting directly involved.

After all I have to say that the biggest loss if for my girlfriend, as she is facing her final exams next week, for which she had tons of papers and research prepared on the Mac, as well as tutoring material, personal pictures and so on. This cannot be replaced, and even if the laptop should show up, chances are that data has been deleted. She is trying to be strong, although very devastated.

Last but not least I am also glad that nothing happened to either of us, I have heard worse stories that involved violence and am certainly glad that I did not face any of that.