Police: Pawnshop rule tough on crime
JANESVILLE — The first time Nick Saunders broke into his grandma’s neighbor’s house, he used a credit card to unlock the front door.
That was June 6.
Saunders, 30, of 106 S. Chatham St., Janesville, would break into the same home in the 900 block of Walker Street four times between June and September, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Rock County Court.
In a little more than 14 weeks, Saunders on eight occasions broke into four Janesville homes and stole three handguns, more than 300 DVDs, $750 in cash, nail guns, video gaming systems, several televisions, laptop computers and a pile of small electronics.
Police say Saunders’ case illustrates how a new city ordinance helps solve burglaries. The case also shows the variety of ways criminals dispose of stolen goods.
Where go the goods?
Every day is different when it comes to unloading stolen merchandise, if Saunders’ confession to police is typical of people who steal to support heroin addictions.
Saunders sold the guns to a person he knows in Beloit, according to the complaint.
He sold the roofing guns in Rockford, Ill., for $150.
He heaped stolen items into a garbage bag and hid the bag under a bush in the backyard. He called his heroin dealer, who drove from Beloit, and the two loaded stolen electronics into the dealer’s car. In exchange, Saunders got 3 grams of heroin, according to the complaint.
Later that week, Saunders entered one of the same homes through a different window and stole a laptop computer, which he threw out the window onto Interstate 90/39 when he figured out it was password protected.
From a Chatham Street home he took a camera and jewelry. He gave the camera to his mom and on Sept. 10 pawned the jewelry at the Coin Shop, 411 W. Milwaukee St., Janesville, according to the complaint.
Four days later, he reported to jail to serve 90 days after failing to report to jail for 2009 charges of second-offense intoxicated driving and causing injury while intoxicated driving.
Meanwhile, a Janesville police investigator was searching an online database for pictures matching the things stolen from the Janesville homes.
Since February, a city ordinance has required Janesville stores that trade cash for used goods to report most sales to police. Many items must be photographed, and all transactions over $20 must be entered into a statewide database.
A Janesville officer found pictures of rings that matched the descriptions of some stolen from the Chatham Street home. From the Coin Shop’s records, investigators identified Saunders and on Sept. 23 arrested him at the Rock County Jail.
He is charged with eight counts of burglary, three counts of felony theft and four counts of theft.
The burden of proof
Reported burglaries keep Janesville investigators busy, Lt. Tim Hiers said.
“A week doesn’t go by we’re not reading at least one report classified as burglary,” Hiers said.
What burglars do with stolen goods is “kind of a hodge podge,” Hiers said.
Like Saunders, people trade stolen merchandise for drugs, Hiers said. Many sell stolen items through the Internet on Craigslist or eBay.
Sometimes they throw away stolen goods, and in rare cases they keep them, Hiers said.
One place police can confidently track sales is pawnshops, he said.
“What we know for sure is that some property that’s taken goes to the pawnshop and gets pawned off that way,” Hiers said. “Why? Because we’ve recovered stolen property.”
Rich Erdman, owner of the Coin Shop, said the police aren’t recovering enough stolen property to justify the burden the ordinance puts on pawnshop owners and other buyers of used merchandise.
It’s not just the labor of entering data that’s burdensome, Erdman said. Used goods retailers have to hold on to merchandise for weeks before they can sell it. That ties up a lot of inventory, Erdman said.
It’s especially a burden on precious metal buyers, who can lose money if gold or silver prices drop during the mandated holding period, he said.
Police would be better off building good relationships with pawnshop owners rather than demanding the online record system, Erdman said. The ordinance has made pawnshop owners dislike dealing with police and even not want to do business, he said.
Owners of Janesville’s other two pawnshops declined to talk to the Gazette for this story.
Since February, police have used the electronic system twice to find stolen merchandise in his store, Erdman said. Police could find much more by passing out lists of stolen goods, he said.
“The way to recover property is not by what we’re buying but what comes in the door,” Erdman said. “I buy a fraction of what comes in the door.”
Erdman admits one advantage in the computerized system.
“The cops aren’t hanging around scaring everybody away,” Erdman said.
Oct 4, 2011 at 6:45 p.m.
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Ahhhhh the almighty Nicksmom hahaha. You are a legend in your own mind. I am well aware that others can read what I write and comment on it. It is the holier than thou like yourself that read words I did not write and feel you are oh so qualified to fill in the blanks. You know the old saying about assuming, well, let me change it, you are making an ass out of yourself, not me, so carry on your majesty.
Oct 4, 2011 at 8:34 a.m.
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nicksmom has an ego problem, plus she thinks that she is better than everyone else on this site. Private schools for her kids ,lives in a affluent large metropolitan suburban subdivision . Has a highly educated/underpaid husband. Has a personal fitness trainer,loves to slum in our janesville stores, God knows what else this privileged poster has going for her .Plus this woman thinks that just because she is on crutches....we should be nice to her and open doors for her carcass. If you would like to know about lovely person check out her other rude comments. Its a wonder why her fellow posters do not delete her comments , and trash her.
Oct 4, 2011 at 7:47 a.m.
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nicksmom should focus in on her own comments posted in OTHER stories......
"I am 1 of 4 employees out of 100+ to have a doctorate (the only female) and apparently that makes me uniquely qualified to go to the supply closet to replenish toilet paper & paper towels & refill the bathroom soap dispenser in the ladies room" ....."Delay action." Why am I not surprised? Agree with theflick that its unbelievable that any public employee would expect a raise when most of us in the public sector haven't seen one in some time. I also agree with smallBIZowner regarding private schools being run responsibly. 10 days ago I sat at a PTO meeting at my son's private school. There were no ceiling tiles in the room which was part of a recent expansion project. The reason? They ran out of money & have to wait on that. Imagine that!"......"I live in an affluent large metropolitan suburban subdivision. We purposely do not have sidewalks. The reason: they invite people who do not live in your neighborhood to come to your neighborhood. If you don't live in my neighborhood, stay out! I don't need your trash, your dog poo, your noise etc. and I don't need you suing me when you accidentally get hurt on my property that you weren't invited to come to."......"I know yada it disgusts me as well. My spouse is a State Employee who is a science professional with over 25 years in service. He's lost pay, benefits & then you read this .... well I can't say the word I'd like to use to describe "this" but you know what I mean. Screams of corruption. Wonder what the new "deer czar" is going to get paid. Unbelievable that this administration manages to find all sorts of money in our "broke" State. How about this for a new Walker slogan, "He taketh & he giveth away."
ENJOY YOUR CHARMED AND ENRICHED LIFE THAT YOU LEAD,YOU SOUND LIKE A REAL SWEETHEART!
Oct 3, 2011 at 2:35 p.m.
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avidreader: Attacking you? When you comment you do realize you open yourself up to comment by others. Don't like it? Take your ball home and play by yourself. What a boring world we would have if everyone agreed. As for where I live? A little place called the "real world" where people get ripped off all the time and you have to take steps to protect yourself. Law enforcement / the legal system / insurance can only do so much to make you whole so deal with it. Life is tough – get a helmet.
Oct 3, 2011 at 2 p.m.
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If you knew Rich Erdman, you'd know why he shows disdain for law enforcement. With a personal philosophy of; "Self enrichment at the expense of others", the guy will likely never be accused of imitating an honorable human being.
Oct 3, 2011 at 1:06 p.m.
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nicksmom: well lah te dah that you are so responsible, go ahead and add high and mighty to your description. Not sure why you felt the need to attack me and call me a whiner when I was stating truths. Yes we can all spend a lot of money on security systems and live with a false sense of security because these systems don't always deter criminals. Yes we can get all our property insured which also does not deter criminals. We can make our claims to the insurance companies and they will pay a portion of our valuables worth, then jack our rates up even higher. Don't know what world you live in but in the real world, the criminals win because they have more rights and more laws protecting them than those of us who chose to follow the laws. Victoms get screwed no matter how many thousands of dollars they spend trying to protect themselves. Most of the property was located in perfect condition and not returned. Why not? Because the store who bought the stolen merchandise does not want to be out any money, that's why not. Where in my post did you read that there was no security system or no insurance? You just assumed that.
Oct 3, 2011 at 12:08 p.m.
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Erdman admits one advantage in the computerized system.
“The cops aren’t hanging around scaring everybody away,” Erdman said.
>
Boy, can't imagine where the cops would get the idea that pawn brokers wouldn't cooperate voluntarily with an attitude like that, it's a mystery.
Oct 3, 2011 at 10:54 a.m.
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@brown: I thought the same thing! If I were to go to a pawnshop (never been in one), I would rather see more cops there than less! But of course I wouldn't be there trying to sell stolen merchandise.
Oct 3, 2011 at 10:31 a.m.
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I love this new law!
To bad it wasn't in
existence when my EX.
broke in and stole all
my power tools and chain
saw and tool box.
(to support his crack habit)
He took it to Casey's Pawnshop.
Since the shop wouldn't work with
either me or the police, I never got
it back and he never got arrested!
Oct 3, 2011 at 9:47 a.m.
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“The cops aren’t hanging around scaring everybody away,” Erdman said.
Really?? When you make a comment like that, it's speaks volumes.
Oct 3, 2011 at 9:10 a.m.
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avidreader: Criminals only win if you let them. That's why responsible people such as myself take it upon themselves to have home security systems & a personal articles insurance policy. Is it right for people to steal? Absolutely not, but it's a fact of life & the police can only do so much so stop your whining and take measures to protect yourself and tell your daughter to do the same.
Oct 2, 2011 at 9:19 p.m.
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Some states and cities have laws where Pawn brookers have to enter every item into a data base for police and a records book in which the sellers have to enter all information and provide a legal photo id that matches their information, so police know where to go to catch thieves, and hold items for 30 days before selling them. If Mr. Erdman dislikes these laws it's because he has no problems dealing in stolen goods. Don't like it, tough you know what, easy solution, close up and go away! You either comply or you get fined, hey that sounds like a better idea.....
Oct 2, 2011 at 9:06 p.m.
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I would like to know why these types of businesses don't get in trouble for receiving stolen merchandise. My daughter was burglarized, the jewelry was taken to a local jewelry store but already melted down before the police realized it was there. Video's were taken to a local store that sells them used, they are still there but they were not returned to the rightful owner. In order to get them back, we would have to buy them back. Sure the store would lose money by giving them back, but I guess that is the risk they take when buying stolen stuff. Yet another case where the criminal wins and everyone else loses.
Oct 2, 2011 at 8:21 p.m.
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and the poor heroin addicts
Oct 2, 2011 at 7:54 p.m.
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with eBay and Craigslist, the only thing this law will do is inconvenience small business owners. Shame.
Oct 2, 2011 at 6:56 p.m.
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Can we all guess where people won't be taking the stolen goods anymore. Thanks for tipping them off.
Oct 2, 2011 at 6:56 p.m.
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Can we all guess where people won't be taking the stolen goods anymore. Thanks for tipping them off.
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