Ill add this just in case anyone wonders what I mean
last MAY or so I was having a person stealing mail in my town
local cops didnl;t want to be bothered too much,as the person was stealing when they were off duty(cops only duty here from 7 am till 11 pm, and imagine that<> crimes seem to happen after them hours?? guess no one can figure out why??)
SO I took it on a task to try and catch the person/persons
I set up camera's and did a week worth of getting evidence on the persons, placed out dummy packages and all
had video and pictures of 3 folks in a vehicle every morning going into everyone mail boxes on my street
after having lots of PROOF, I went back to local cops, and again they were not too interested , so I stated I would do a citizens arrest and have state police come and get credit for arrest!
at this point they wanted in< Gave them 3 days to act or was going over there heads
had them set up a sting in my drive way they sat, they used a 20 dollar bill, I added priority mail,. due to wanted things to be a FEDERAL CRIME< with REAL punishment!
as EVERYONE KNOWS< stealing mail is feudal crime RIGHT?? they preach this on TV and at post offices!
the persons took the bait, and cops stopped them
here is where it gets BAD
Local cops, CLAIM they could ONLY charge the driver of the vehicle, and NOT the other two people in the vehicle, who she was caught on camera GIVING packages to!
as seems the other people in vehicle CLAIMED they didn;t know she was stealing things out of mail boxes??(REALLY??)
what was driver doing stopping at mail boxes every day at 3 am with them then??
BUT OK
SO< things go to court, they do NOT got to federal court, due to well, according to District attorney and the Post office general(who I called and complained to about and questioned why??)
, it is NOT a FEDERAL crime to steal mail, unless it crosses some imaginary line on VALUE stolen, and they DON"T have a set number, they use there discretion at will apparently and no set rules on what requirements on this either!
so if someone steals your mail and steals your identity, don't expect the federal laws to help you unless you have really GOOD connections to someone important enough to get them to do so!
NEXT
while she was going thru the legal system, she entered into a plea bargain deal, where she was ONLY going to pay a small fine(less than what she was known to have stolen)
which they were GOING to give her, BUT due to huge delays in cases with corona crap, her case didn't get settled till late Oct , which by then
she was also arrested 2 more times for stealing
in two different local towns (different county's, remember this)
so when her case came back to court they granted her the lighter sentence, a small fine and she was free to go
this after again stealing peoples mail and packages!
two passengers got charged with NOTHING!
BUT at trial, cop that made arrest spoke up and gave judge info on her other arrest and they canceled her plea deal to a different deal
SO
NEXT<
due to the pending thief cases, they gave her an added 6 months probation!
still NO jail time, at all here , not even an hour from the time arrested to now, ZIP zero jail time for stealing mail and she admitted she was doing so for MONTHS.
when I got the letter with case outcome from DA< I called and complained,'
asking WHY she never got jail time, and they said due to the crime wasn't that BIG a deal, and she had no other BIG charges on her record!
I said, well she was also arrested 2 more times while waiting for this case to be settled
and JUDGE KNEW IT!
so again WHY no jail time
and was told due to other cases were NOT resolved yet< REALLY
so they had NO bearing on outcome of this case
I then asked HOW and WHY the other two folks in vehicle were NOT arrested for same crime as they were in vehicle every day and seen handling stolen property from mail boxes
and again was told they CLAIMED they didn;t know was stolen and as such, NOT charged!
the person that was convicted on things, is still FREE NO jail time and due to NOT working(but collecting unemployment)
she doesn;t have to pay anyone back they she stole from them,(several folks claimed exact figures on values she stole in court and are told SOME DAY they will get paid back by HER)
but untill she MAYBE gets a job! that won't happen!
SOME< you take an example like this
and I gather many criminals will claim, crime DOES PAY or is worth the risks
as what real punishments did this person get or there companions that also were stealing with her
and this was on a SO called FEDERAL CRIME, which again isn't unless they WANT to go that way on some made up imaginary number they can use at will
other wise its a small local crime and goes into your county's legal system!
its crap like this that isn;t scaring anyone from doing crimes anymore IMO!
punishments are weak and deter only honest folks! who ain;'t stealing in the first place!
BS, bring back stricter punishments that get followed thru !
