Listen, here is the deal. In many jurisdictions, there is a difference between truly having something stolen from you and voluntarily surrendering the same in a scam. IF the cue was in a car, someone smashed the window and took it, that is theft. Here, Thubosky volunarily surrendered the cue to the scammer.
In this case, if the scammer still has the cue, he could have filed a civil detainer action to recover the cue. He didn't. Because of the nature of the delivery of the cue to the scammer, it is highly unlikely that he would be able to recover the cue from anyone downstream from the scammer. If the subsequent purchaser paid money and had no knowledge of the scam at the time of purchase, he is what is called in law, a bona fide purchaser and has title to the cue.
One remedy for Thubosdy is to sue the original scammer for the unpaid purchase price, and chase him for the rest of his life to collect a civil judgment. He can do that in his own back yard, then he will have to "domesticate" the judgment in North Carolina, get an attorney to figure out where scammer works and garnish his wages or levy on property he owns.
Second option is to get law enforcement involved, either local or through the US Postal Service, to start a criminal action to press charges and have his lost money ordered as restitution by the criminal court.
Cops and investigators work on cases in terms of severity and priority. Oftentimes, the loudest barking dog gets attention. Local cops aren't going to pay much attention to a "foreigner" who managed to get scammed out of a $600 cue. If you make the trip to push the issue, file the reports, etc., it might get a little more attention. Call every day, and it might get more attention. Same for the Postal Inspector. Other option is to go to the US Attorney's office and see if you can get an audience. Trust me, they probably don't give a shit about a $600 cue when they are looking at monster cases. If the scammer is from Nigeria and doing this daily, yeah they might get excited. Here, not likely.
Point I am make probably not very artfully was that coming here and whining isn't going to make anything happen. Real question is how much time and money do you invest in recovering a $600 cue.
Several years ago, had a friend with a fairly unique custom built banjo that got stolen out of his car at a fiddler's convention. Worth about $3,000. Police report filed, Twenty years later they find it in the hands of a guy that bought it at a yard sale for $125. I filed suit for the guy, and after two years of legal wrangling in civil court, we got the banjo back. This was a true theft case, and the subsequent purchaser had no legal title to the banjo because of the theft. Had the owner voluntarily surrendered the banjo to a repairman who subsequently sold it without the owner's knowledge, very different result, which is the same as the case here.
Sorry for being less than tactful, but coming here isn't going to do anything to get the cue or his money returned. Thubosky is going to have to step up and take some legal action on his own, and/or drive someone nuts until they help him.
