Possible Stolen Ernie Martinez - Ebay

Ebay is down for repair right now. Did it say where the seller was located. I would get in touch with the local police. Possesion of stolen property is against the law. The cue can be confiscated. Or dealt with by our AZ local brethren. Oh!, wait a minute that's against the law too. WHO CARES GET'EM.

What happen to Ernie??

Current high bidder

Murphcues is the current high bidder on this cue. Would that be Scott Murphey out of Texas? He is a well known reputable cue dealer. Perhaps you ought to drop him a line and explain the situation.

If your friend can definitely prove that this is his cue, then I would do as suggested and file a complaint with the police department in the town where the cue is located. Also contact Ebay - they may at least stop the auction until this gets sorted out.

I wouldn't hold my breath, because it is going to be incumbent on your friend to prove the cue is his and he may find the authorities unwilling to get involved until this is established - and it's kind of hard to do at a distance.

Good luck.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

Charlie, I was made aware of the problem with Ernie and I appreciate the heads up from everyone that kept me in the loop.

Ernie's mom sent back my original uncashed check without any personal contact. It seems that she is a stand up lady.

I personally would get information as to who the seller was, names, addresses, emails, ebay account number etc. and then contact the local police department and inquire what can be done to get back the cue.

Warm Regards,
JoeyA

Charlie Edwards said:

I sincerely wish your friend luck. Awhile back I had hell getting back the money I had paid Ernie for a cue. And after talking to some people that knew him, I heard several stories just like the one you are telling. Tell your friend that IMO his only recource is to file theft charges with the Denver district attorneys office. And then contact the U.S. Department Of Trade.

BTW, while this story was unfolding in another thread, another member of this group gave me a bad rep piont for making posts against Ernie Martinez. He left with it the comment about me: "What a jerk". I ROTFLMAO. I was a jerk for trying to get my money back. What a hoot. So, Nibrobus, don't be surprised if some nut gives you a bad rep point for making this post. But I just gave you a good rep point, to off set it, just in case. LOL.

Click to expand...

Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ernie-Martinez-...ryZ21212QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The other link did not work for me...

The important thing is for your friend to buy the cue back so that he at least has possession of the cue. That will eliminate one other player in the mess.

With the cue in-hand, he can verify it is his, then file the police report against the seller and let the crap run uphill. It would quickly resolve itself at that point.

Let me know if you need help with Esnipe.... or anything else. I also have a friend in the Denver area that could pick the cue up and/or help with the investigation.

Pizza Bob said:

Murphcues is the current high bidder on this cue. Would that be Scott Murphey out of Texas? He is a well known reputable cue dealer. Perhaps you ought to drop him a line and explain the situation.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's Scott Murphey

So whey should the seller divulge anything, as is your FRIENDS Q a ONE & ONLY...?

The Cue was sent to Ernie, Received by Ernie, so I think your friends BEEF is with Ernie....IMO

BillYards wrote:
> The important thing is for your friend to buy the cue
> back so that he at least has possession of the cue.
> That will eliminate one other player in the mess.


I might be wrong, but I'm not sure if buying it back would be the best thing here. If you bought it back, then you'd actually add one other player in the mess -- the guy you bought it from, (who you then also have to get your money back from).

Instead, I would contact eBay ASAP and have them put the auction on hold (to get some breathing room) and then find out who the seller is and how he got hold of the cue.

Best of luck to you,

-- peer

It's sad Ernie and that Colorado Cues guy have fallen on hard times.

Peer said:

I might be wrong, but I'm not sure if buying it back would be the best thing here. If you bought it back, then you'd actually add one other player in the mess -- the guy you bought it from, (who you then also have to get your money back from).

Instead, I would contact eBay ASAP and have them put the auction on hold (to get some breathing room) and then find out who the seller is and how he got hold of the cue.

Best of luck to you,

-- peer

Click to expand...

No... you have to get your hands on the cue without fail. The system does not work correctly in these cases. Buy the cue and call the cops on the seller. He will pass the buck on to whomever sold it to him immediately and will not be in trouble or out the money. It will travel up the chain, trust me.

But GET THE CUE FIRST. I would also contact the seller and save copies of the auction and contact Ernies mother for any possible documentation that she might still have.

BillYards wrote:
> But GET THE CUE FIRST.

But as I understand it, he isn't 100 percent sure whether this cue is actually his. And in case it isn't his, he would then be out the money for yet another cue.

I still think the best would be to stop the auction and then find out who the seller is and if this is indeed his cue. When the auction is on hold, the cue won't go anywhere.

But again, since I haven't been in this situation myself, I'm not really sure what would be the best.

-- peer

Peer said:

BillYards wrote:
> But GET THE CUE FIRST.

But as I understand it, he isn't 100 percent sure whether this cue is actually his. And in case it isn't his, he would then be out the money for yet another cue.

I still think the best would be to stop the auction and then find out who the seller is and if this is indeed his cue. When the auction is on hold, the cue won't go anywhere.

But again, since I haven't been in this situation myself, I'm not really sure what would be the best.

-- peer

Click to expand...

The cue could go anywhere. The seller could say he posted the wrong photo and it was another cue.

The real owner is fairly certain it is his cue. This is his best chance to get it back.

Ernies shop is now permanently closed and his number no longer is in service. I tried repeatedly to get ahold of Ernies mother via cell, home, etc... and never had a call back. Those of you that got reimbursed for any money lost are lucky. I believe there are several others that were left high and dry.

The person who is selling this cue on Ebay, more than likely probably made an offer to Ernie's mother to buy the cue, or claimed the cue was his/hers. At any rate, this person probably got possession of the cue when Ernie's shop was closing. For all we know, it my by a member of the family which is trying to sell the cue on Ebay. I would suggest that you contact the seller and explain the situation.

I feel that the Ebay seller knows the family and can probably work out the details with you, particularly if you have proof like you say you do.

Best of luck,

Doug

So this Martinez fellow is in the Denver area, and it appears that the eBay seller is also (Littleton, CO). That makes me think that this is indeed your pal's cue.

Does the original owner, by chance, have any photos of the cue/case before he sent them back for repair? Because frankly, this situation is a big "he said she said" (well, no 'she' but you get the idea) situation - if there's no proof/documentation, it makes things difficult.

I'm in the Denver area myself, so please let me know if there's anything I can do (within reason) to help get this resolved.

That auction ends in 1 day, 9 hrs so it would be best to contact eBay and get them on the case sooner than later. Might also contact the current high bidder (since folks seem to know who he is) and explain the situation.

(On a side note, looking through the old bidder list, I think I met one of'em some time back. *laugh*)

Salamander wrote:
> I would suggest that you contact the seller and explain the situation.

Yes, also I think this is the best way -- but the first thing he has to do is to stop the auction before someone buys it (and mix things up even more).

-- peer

Original owner

Hi, I am the original owner of this EM cue that is discussed here. I could finally registered for this forum. I just reported it to "You suspect stolen property is for sale" on eBay.(I don't know if it's too late to stop it or not...) I bought this cue on ebay Dec 25, 2005 from the seller named Shane Nowak and Kevin.(LTS inc.) living in Denver, Co. This guy would identify the cue.
The guy selling my cue on ebay right now is named Eddie Castro who lives in Littleton, CO. (His email address is "isaacaden02@yahoo.com", so Isaac Aden could be his real name.) If anyone know about this guy, please let me know. My email address is daisuke_aoki@hotmail.com.

Thank you for all of your opinions!
Dai

Daisuke,
I asked the seller about the cue, and this is his response:
"Hi, there I told this person to contact the police. I have a receipt for this item. anyway when he first email me he said that he thinks that this cue look like his cue but he was not sure now he is saying it is out of nowhere and I ask for his proof and he does not have it. And I do have proof and im more then willing to show it to the police. So please dont listen to this guy.Thanks Eddie"
I would suspect that he probably bought the cue in some kind of a liquidation process involving all the tools, machinery, and supplies and cues in Ernies shop. So the buyer probably doesn't think he's wrong. Your best bet would be to contact the Denver police department. I would also suggest that you try to buy the cue from the seller just to prevent it from ending up in the hands of somebody that wouldn't be liable to return it to you. First get the cue back, and then fight about the money later.
gambatte akiramenaide ne!!
dave

If you have the funds available, purchase the cue. Ebay is notoriously SLOW in responding to fraudulent auctions...it may be purchased before anyone actually gets to your message concerning the cue. With the high incidences of fraudulent activity on Ebay these days, the auction will be long ended before you receive a response. As to the guy having proof of purchase, please inform him that should the proof of original purchase pre-date his, he will be subject to receipt of stolen property charges, proof of purchase or no. The law is pretty clear on this. Contact needs to be made to the original seller of this cue, and an affidavit of date of purchase, along with any pics that were taken for the auction obtained. If the cue was originally purchase tranferring funds through PayPal, there will be a history of the transaction in your account....print that out for the report. Make sure that the authorities involved are aware of the full dollar value of the cue. Remember, most of the rest of the world think most cues cost about 20.00 from Wally World. It is the difference between petty theft and grand larceny. I would also leave a message with Ernie's mother informing her of the pending legal action, and since she was handling the settling of his affairs, it will make her culpable for the unlawful transfer for profit of the property. Chances are she is aware of who got that cue...as it is very likely she received funds for it to settle his other debts.

Best of luck in recovering your cue.

Lisa

1pRoscoe said:

Yes, that's Scott Murphey

Click to expand...

Holy S^$% .. the cue is up to $860 by Scott Murphy!!!!

The cue is now down to $.99 ! ! 8 hours 30 minutes to go. I'm thinkink about bidding on it, that's a great price ! lol... It looks like all the bids have been cancelled, but the auction is still running.
I did it I'm the high bidder