Friday morning, 6:15

The Los Angeles Times published an article in early January about the rise of a particular stolen car part for cash because of the resale potential. I was going to post it here, but just can't out of principle. Why post instruction for criminals? Well, sometime between 10:45 p.m. and 6:15 a.m. we became victims of this crime in front of our own house. Steve discovered it when he was about to drive to his Friday morning coffee appointment, though we didn't realize it was stolen until noon. We waited for the sheriff to come and take the report, thinking they would laugh at us for reporting a stolen car part. Turns out it was reported as Grand Theft, an we were quoted up to $1300 for replacement. Guess what? There were prints! They sent their CSI gal out to lift the prints (no, she didn't look much like Catherine Rivers, though much nicer), and we were told we should hear something this week. It was quite the Friday for us! Thankfully we were able to call around and discovered that the $1300 price would have been at the dealer, and for a much newer vehicle. We did much better, though it is hard to be thankful for spending $200 for a part you owned free and clear 36 hours before. We are indeed thankful that the truck wasn't stolen and that nothing else was damaged... especially our family vehicle!