A moral dilemma, friend received what is likely a stolen cue

ShakesSea said:
A possibly stolen cue from five years ago that has passed through others' hands, and a production cue at that, would give me no moral qualms provided I was sure I had no way of contacting the original owner who it may or may not have been stolen from (however shady the transaction, the cue might have been swapped by the original owner for a debt).

Buying a cue you know was stolen last week from the person who lifted it is an entirely different thing that I would never support.The person who originally bought the cue off the street is the bad actor. The statute of limitations has passed. A cue of greater value or rarity would be a different matter regardless of the time that had passed.
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People on the street sometimes sell things they legitimately own because...............


Yup you guessed it. They need money.

To assume it's stolen property is a solution in search of a problem. A problem that's not your friend's.

JC
 
flyrv9 said:
About the only thing one could do is check to see if a police report was filed. Then, at least, she made an attempt to find out if it was stolen.
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that would be the moral high ground and relieve most of the stress of possibly having a stolen cue.
 
Pull the rubber bumper off it and see if the previous owner wrote their phone number on the bumper or left a tiny slip of paper with their information on it. Also, closely examine the case. If there is a number on it give it a call and ask if they have misplaced a cue. If there is no number or info to be found, play with the cue with a somewhat clear conscience (you did what you could to find the owner).
 
Why does anyone even think the guy who presented the cue to her is tellin the truth. Maybe input was something he had lying around and he waspnts somma dat bootay?
 
DCS_SF said:
This was the general consensus last night as well. I think she felt conflicted since another teammate was mugged for his cues last year.


No actually. She came in asking us what she should do because she believed it was likely stolen. I am pretty sure her friend also insinuated he believed it was stolen since he didn't pay much for it. It was in a pretty nice leather hard case, and it was clear that at some point somebody cared about this cue.

As for what I know, I can tell you that the little ****ing street fairs of garbage and occasionally nice things you find spread out in front of bums in my city are full of stolen items.

Sure, I am not 100% sure, but I'd place my confidence at about 90%, as would her and everyone on the team who she asked about it.
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It is a plain jane Pechauer, correct? No points, or inlays (other then maybe rings?), right? I would not assume that it was stolen. It was not that expensive of a cue, even brand new, and just because it was purchased from some guy who appeared to be homeless, does not mean that it was stolen. Lots of guys look like they are homeless (because they look really rugged and dirty), but they are not really homeless, and that is besides the point. I purchased a Mcdermott cue off a a guy several months back for $20. Should I have assumed that it was stolen, just because I got the cue for such a small price? I resold it for $50 that same night to a bar tender at a bar. If the cue is low end, then one should be should not assume that it is stolen based on the price they paid for it. People get desperate and sell their stuff for super cheap. Who knows, maybe it was purchased for cheap from a drug addict. Pool cues do not have serial numbers on them (except for Joss cues, not sure about others), and can't be traced, unless they were custom made, and one of a kind. Worrying about a low end production cue (no offence to Pechauer cues, but they are production cues) that was purchased years ago from an unknown person on the street is kind of silly I think.
 
De420MadHatter said:
Once again your assuming. The facts don't care how much you believe something. Unless you go talk to the crackhead and he tells you it was stolen, I don't see your point. You sound like a cop. Guilty until proven innocent. I mean think about it. Some yam smoker sold you a cue, end of story. If someone ever approaches your friend and says, "hey that's my cue, it was stolen". Well, now you have something concrete. Until that day I wouldn't lose any sleep. And if you Californians have such a tender conscience I would suggest not buying anything, or accepting anything purchased from the crackhead bazaar.
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Yeah, and anything that was purchased used from some unknown stranger (or anyone actually) could have possibly been stolen. If you worry about these things, then it is best to just never buy anything used, unless at a store, where you can at least get a receipt for your purchase.
 
DCS_SF said:
Like I said, most told her to go ahead and use the cue (including me). There were one or two that thought she should make an effort to see if she can find an owner, but none of us could think of a good way, specially since it was so long ago.

However, obviously if you were going to try, I wouldn't post pics and ask if it's yours. You'd have to give some details about the cue and the case.
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Yeah, you could ask your friend where exactly he purchased the cue from, and then post a Craigslist ad saying something like "my friend purchased a used Pechauer cue from a stranger on the street round 5 years ago, and give the exact month and date if possible, and not include any other details like the color of it, or anything else, and ask to reply if you know if this cue was stolen around that time, and give details about what the cue looked like, and the color of the case, and stuff like that. You could do the same thing here on az billiards, and maybe on facebook too. The cue may have been stolen (who knows), but so could have anything that you ever purchased used in your life on a place like Craigslist. You going to worry about all of those items too?
 
JC said:
People on the street sometimes sell things they legitimately own because...............


Yup you guessed it. They need money.

To assume it's stolen property is a solution in search of a problem. A problem that's not your friend's.

JC
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yeah, good reply. If everyone worried about this type of thing, then nothing would ever get purchased on a place like Craigslist.
 
I once bought a cue for $150 from a guy who came into my pool room. I then contacted the maker and was informed the cue was stolen. Then the police got called and the guy's mom came and gave me back the $150. Then the police called me and got nasty with me for buying it and told me to give it back to the original owner and told me they could arrest me for receiving stolen property. Then they found out he had collected insurance as it was stolen out of his car and he got paid like $600 for the cue. Then I was told to hold onto it for the insurance company to come by and pick it up. Which never happened and I am still waiting on them to come get it over 20 years later. So I have a cue that was stolen and now have zero dollars in it and was told some time ago the since the insurance company abandoned it that made me the legal owner. I am really not sure what is morally right on this one, but I still have the cue.
 
cueman said:
I once bought a cue for $150 from a guy who came into my pool room. I then contacted the maker and was informed the cue was stolen. Then the police got called and the guy's mom came and gave me back the $150. Then the police called me and got nasty with me for buying it and told me to give it back to the original owner and told me they could arrest me for receiving stolen property. Then they found out he had collected insurance as it was stolen out of his car and he got paid like $600 for the cue. Then I was told to hold onto it for the insurance company to come by and pick it up. Which never happened and I am still waiting on them to come get it over 20 years later. So I have a cue that was stolen and now have zero dollars in it and was told some time ago the since the insurance company abandoned it that made me the legal owner. I am really not sure what is morally right on this one, but I still have the cue.
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Well, I am not sure, but I do not think it would be morally right for the original owner (the person who had the cue stolen out of their car) to receive his cue back plus get to keep the insurance company's $600. I guess that in a way, the insurance company purchased the right to the ownership of the cue for the $600, and since they forgot to come collect the cue from you (maybe the insurance file got lost or forgotten about), then since you had possession of the cue, then legally after a number of days, the cue would be legally yours to keep. Maybe it kind of like if I were to find $10,000 on the ground, and turn it into the police, then after so many days of nobody coming to claim that money, then the police would give me a call, and tell me that it is rightfully mine to keep.
 
I read this yesterday and thought to myself, when did I lose a cue in your area?

I thought I would look at this thread today and see people from Phoenix Arizona all the way to Tacoma, Filthadelphia Atlanta LA, Noooorthern California where the girls are warm so they could hussle with this today.

Yup, I lost it while driving thru your area, please don't ask when or where. Trust me, really, it's not mine, been fun though.
 
DCS_SF said:
This was the general consensus last night as well. I think she felt conflicted since another teammate was mugged for his cues last year.


No actually. She came in asking us what she should do because she believed it was likely stolen. I am pretty sure her friend also insinuated he believed it was stolen since he didn't pay much for it. It was in a pretty nice leather hard case, and it was clear that at some point somebody cared about this cue.

As for what I know, I can tell you that the little ****ing street fairs of garbage and occasionally nice things you find spread out in front of bums in my city are full of stolen items.

Sure, I am not 100% sure, but I'd place my confidence at about 90%, as would her and everyone on the team who she asked about it.
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I really have no dog in this but...just a question, or two. First, IF her "friend" believed that he thought it was stolen before he bought it, then why would he risk buying stolen merchandise, even on the cheap? Secondly, why would he then pass it on to her, indicating that he believed it was stolen when he bought it, and then she buys it too? If she were having a "moral confliction," the time for that is before you purchase something like this, not after, IMO.
All the best.
j2
 
cueman said:
I once bought a cue for $150 from a guy who came into my pool room. I then contacted the maker and was informed the cue was stolen. Then the police got called and the guy's mom came and gave me back the $150. Then the police called me and got nasty with me for buying it and told me to give it back to the original owner and told me they could arrest me for receiving stolen property. Then they found out he had collected insurance as it was stolen out of his car and he got paid like $600 for the cue. Then I was told to hold onto it for the insurance company to come by and pick it up. Which never happened and I am still waiting on them to come get it over 20 years later. So I have a cue that was stolen and now have zero dollars in it and was told some time ago the since the insurance company abandoned it that made me the legal owner. I am really not sure what is morally right on this one, but I still have the cue.
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Most states have abandoned property statutes. The collective time for land or structures
is usually a little different than it is for something like a car or merchandise, or a pool cue.
I don't know what it is where you live, but I'd bet you legally own that cue by now. It's easy
enough to look up if it's something you're curious about
 
DCS_SF said:
A friend of hers knew she played pool, and had a stick he bought off some "guy on the street" about 5 years ago, which he gave to her.
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If it's "a friend of hers" why can't she just ask that "friend" if he/she stole the cue?
 
Celophanewrap said:
Most states have abandoned property statutes. The collective time for land or structures
is usually a little different than it is for something like a car or merchandise, or a pool cue.
I don't know what it is where you live, but I'd bet you legally own that cue by now. It's easy
enough to look up if it's something you're curious about
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I thought the issue was one of theft, not of abandonment. Was the cue abandoned?
Dave
 
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