[Wino]

We've had a passel of recent vandalism and theft in my neighborhood.........my mail box and neighbors, S-I-L's jeep rear window all have fallen victim to baseball bat battering..........next door neighbor and one across the street vehicles broken into with loss of tools and laptops....all seem to happen between 3-5 AM.

Last night, I had an apparent attempt to steal a large plastic tool box from in front of my steel bar caged front porch that I use as a drop box for shipments from UPS/Fed-Ex, etc. since no one can access my front door cause I keep the gate lock 24/7.

When I recently installed this drop box, I suspected that if I did not make it difficult to steal that it would last about a week before it was stolen. So, I had an old 3 ft x 2 ft. x 3" thick concrete slab (weighs 100 Lbs.+) that I sat it down on and using concrete nails and washers, nailed the box to the slab. In addition, I ran a 2" steel chain from a long bar inside the box out to a large hedge trunk, well rooted in the ground.

When I went out early this morning to get the newspaper and put mail in the mailbox, I noticed my 'drop box' was repositioned and the lid was open. The almost crime scene had me rolling on the ground laughing! I'll note now that my grass is in much need of mowing and rather long at this point.

Upon inspecting the reason for movement, I deduced that this crime was to be a grab and run theft, as you could still see the ball of shoe prints (I presume he/she was running) approaching from the west and just past the box was almost a perfect imprint of a prone body (kinda like a snow angel). I've been chuckling ever since...........I may go back and check the scene again to see if I can find any fingernails that may have been lost by the perpetrator.

[LANMaster]

OMG !!!!

You have to take a picture & post it.

That is SOOOO FUNNY !!!!

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by Wino

I may go back and check the scene again to see if I can find any fingernails that may have been lost by the perpetrator.

You might want to check IK's fingernails!

[angelize56]

If you do find any fongernails or tips...don't go to Wendy's and try anything!

[Perfesser]

OK...on the subject of vandalism, I have a story for you. Waaay back when I was about 10 or 12, there was a smarta$$ in the neighboorhood who would pop the hood on Dad's car (1950 Plymouth) and pull the plug wires off, remove the distributor cap and rotor, and lay it all on the engine block; it was a flathead straight 6. after the third time, one of these cases where we KNEW who it was but couldn't prove it, I found Dad in the garage with the hood up, working near the edge of the hood. He saw me and closed the hood, told me to open it but to stop when he said to.
When I did he tied something off on the hood and said, OK...don't open it again unless I'm around.
What he had done was put a switch (actually a headphone jack) across the horn switch so that it would pull out and fall free so closing the hood wouldn't stop it.
As an added little surprise I found out that he had mounted a humongous flashbulb in the radiator shell at the front - what he was watching for when I opened it was the point where you start to put your head down as the hood goes up.
It went off a couple of nights later...we found blood and hair on the hood, and the kid we suspected was 'sick' for 3 or 4 days.

[Wino]

Perfesser, I love it! and much less dangerous than the Claymore's I planted around my drop box yesterday. (j/k)

I'll probably hear from my thief's lawyer next week.