Quoted from ripple:I am ripple. I will post all the details when I get a chance. Just coming down from a long day playing detective.
Nice work!
(Topic ID: 302909)
Linked Games
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Pro)
Stern, 2020
Topic Gallery
Nashville, TN
Quoted from arcademojo:If you have any original paperwork with serial number. That would help the op greatly. Really don't see any way to prove the game was his without it.
That was the key. He bought it new and we had a picture of the serial number for warranty purposes.
Quoted from EricHadley:I canceled my whine of the month club
That's the gift that keeps on giving, whether you want it or not.
Quoted from miracleman:YAY!
WE WANT MUG SHOTS!
WE WANT MUG SHOTS![quoted image]
pasted_image (resized).png So here is the story. I got a text on Thursday from my wanted to buy ad asking if I wanted to buy a new TMNT with a picture of a moded machine. At first I did not remember about the stolen machine and I replied it was not new but might be interested. He said make an offer and I said maybe 5K. The person said great and he was 3 hours from Boise and would bring it to me on Sunday. This was the fishiest offer I have ever received to buy machine and after a couple of hours I remembered about the stolen machine. Everything lined up from the mods this was the stolen machine. I contacted tigzz and chipscott and confirmed this was the case. I called the Boise police Friday morning and spoke with an officer. He said there was nothing they could do at this point since no crime was committed in Idaho. I said how about we lure the person here and the police pretend to be me on Sunday to recover the machine. He said maybe but I don’t work on Sunday so you would need to talk to someone on Sunday. At this point I decided I would need to be the lead on this or the recovery might not happen. After this point the police were excellent in there response. I stayed in contact with the seller and just acted like it was a normal purchase. The big break at this point is the serial number was tracked down. Now we have a police report and a serial number!
So Sunday comes and I call back the police. The police agree to wait down the road and we will call them as soon as the machine is in the garage. First they are supposed to arrive at 1:00 then they push that back to 2:00 then they push it back to 3:00. At this point the police are changing shifts and a different police team is on standby. Finally they show up. 3 guys in maybe their late 20’s. The seller comes off as pretty nice and harmless but I can not say that for his 2 friends. Just as we are getting the legs on 3 cop cars roll up. I say “ come on in guys “ to the officers. They have 4 officers and proceed with questioning. I couldn’t hear the entire story but basically the seller said “ I have a junk shop in a tiny town and someone stopped in and said they needed gas money. The machine was still strapped to the pallet. He offered them $300 and they took it.”
The police took forever to do everything. I explained 3 times the whole story and mostly sat around for couple of hours hanging out and waiting. No arrests were made and they drove away. I did send pictures to chipscott to see if any were the original thief. It’s pretty amazing these guys didn’t have anything else illegal going on. Their car was searched. Eventually a detective shows up on his day off. I could not talk the police out of taking the machine as evidence and I did have a letter to act as tigzzz agent. The police said the matter was being referred to the prosecutor and it could take months to release the machine.
I want to give a special shout out to my pinball posse. When some voice were literally telling me not to get involved and this could be a risk to me, my pinball posse took time out of their day to stand behind me so I wouldn’t be out manned for those couple of minutes before the police rolled in. I am so happy to be involved in the recovery of this machine and would be happy to help in picking it up from the authorities and getting it to the owner when the time comes.
Quoted from ripple:I am ripple.
This is great. Sounds like something a super hero would say.
Quoted from Pinless:This is great. Sounds like something a super hero would say.
20211213_140002 (resized).jpgQuoted from ripple:Here are some pics. The first pic I received then then the machine in my garage then it getting ready to be loaded on the police truck.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Great job ripple!!
I got you a pinside+ membership to say thanks for being part of what makes the world a better place!!
Attention Robin- New Pinside achievement award, "Being Columbo- recover a stolen pinball machine". 100K points.
Did they at least run the IDs on the junk shop guy and his henchmen?
He was quick to accept your 5K offer because he had the ability to google the $$$$ of the machine, while the meth-heads couldn't get on a computer at the library.
I hope you stretch wrapped the top down, or that's gonna get a bunch of play in the precinct break room!
Edmonton, AB
luckily he was greedy and saw the opportunity to make easy cash ... lucky it didn't wind up in his basement !
Agreed, Ripple needs some honorary award or special avatar. Something like the golden Kappa award on Twitch. Just something that people go "woah he is different".
Quoted from NPO:Somehow this should get an honorary TWIPY or "Story of 2021" here at Pinside.
Lifetime Pinside+ membership!
Quoted from ripple:I am ripple. I will post all the details when I get a chance. Just coming down from a long day playing detective.
This post has the most upvotes I have ever seen
Well done
Quoted from Chosen_S:This post has the most upvotes I have ever seen
Ripple went straight to legendary status! Watch out scammers. We need some Ripple Detective Co. T-shirts
ripple IS THE MAN! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This pin has one of the greatest stories associated with it. Pretty awesome to be the owner of this particular game. I hope someone does a story or article about it, maybe cut/print it out and frame it next to the pin?
Awesome stuff. I'm blown away. I kept my eyes out for anything in the Northeast, being hopeful but honestly losing hope with every passing day. Freakin IDAHO!? Crazy man.
Quoted from ripple:I want to give a special shout out to my pinball posse. When some voice were literally telling me not to get involved and this could be a risk to me, my pinball posse took time out of their day to stand behind me so I wouldn’t be out manned for those couple of minutes before the police rolled in.
Wait wait wait.... you had people in your/our pinball community hiding out in your house as well, just in case things went down?
Are any of these guys on pinside? Give out some recognition!
Quoted from Friengineer:We need some Ripple Detective Co. T-shirts
In for one!
I would love to explain this story to others... Just incredible.
Quoted from rwmech5:The notoriety of this machine is going to be a gift that keeps on giving on this site.
Mount a plaque on the machine memorializing the saga and the heroic actions of Ripple and all others who stood against the forces of Bebop and Rocksteady. SLE 1 of 1.
What a crazy story/thread. Super awesome that the game was recovered. Surprised/not surprised that the cops weren’t eager to pursue this, as the value of the game amounts to felony theft in most states.
Great work!
Mike
You should contact cops and tell them how to set to free play as a thank you .
Maybe hold that thought , could add year to time takes to get pin back as they thoroughly document the game for court procedures .
Shane
Quoted from Pinless:This is great. Sounds like something a super hero would say.
Quoted from Guidotorpedo:game was recovered.
Quoted from ripple:police said the matter was being referred to the prosecutor and it could take months to release the machine.
It’s not quite recovered yet. The thieves don’t have it anymore but it’s not back in the owner’s possession and may not be for months. tigzzz how long a drive will it be for you to pick up the machine? Do you know it’s current exact location? Discussed with your attorney exactly how you should go about recovering the game?
seems like it shouldn't be that difficult to get it back at this point, prove ownership and pick it up.
I love a story with a WIN for the good guy. Nice job Ripple, for your great detective work and recovery of a stolen pin, I can offer you 50 dollar gift certificate for anything in my store. www.modfatherpinball.com You are awesome !!!!!! Thank you , and Merry Christmas. Chuck
Congratulations great story. Hopefully OP can get the pin soon and it’s no worse for the detour.
Mildly amusing that a color DMD costs $400, shipping a pin costs $5-600 and yet the junk store bought a whole pin for $300 claims they didn’t know it was stolen.
Quoted from rai:Congratulations great story. Hopefully OP can get the pin soon and it’s no worse for the detour.
Mildly amusing that a color DMD costs $400, shipping a pin costs $5-600 and yet the junk store bought a whole pin for $300 claims they didn’t know it was stolen.
What are they supposed to say? "yes officer, we knew it was stolen."
They are dumb but they aren't the guys who stole the pin. You really think they should go to jail?
Quoted from CrazyLevi:What are they supposed to say? "yes officer, we knew it was stolen."
They are dumb but they aren't the guys who stole the pin. You really think they should go to jail?
If it can be proven they knew the goods were stolen yes.
Quoted from gdonovan:If it can be proven they knew the goods were stolen yes.
How can that be proven?
How many resources can we expect a local police department to expend in this investigation? Should we bring in the Feds?
Since the stolen machine crossed state lines, I would bet that the FBI will be called in. That being said, you can bet that someone will be investigating the shippers, the shipping company, the "pawn shop" and the guys that purchased the stolen machine. All that might take some time, as there are plenty of people to ask a lot of probing questions to by law enforcement. Like, how much more stuff was stolen? How much more stolen merchandise has the pawn shop purchased and who was that other merchandise stolen from? Who bought the other stolen merchandise and where is it now? Did the resellers know that the merchandise was stolen also and how many times have they done that in the past? They might even contact buyers that potentially bought stolen merchandise at the pawn shop, with no idea that it was stolen at the time. Lots of blame to go around. Lets call that police work, now that law enforcement people have a lead.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Should we bring in the Feds?
Well, yeah.
the_untouchables_-_h_-_1987 (resized).jpgQuoted from Dent00:Since the stolen machine crossed state lines, I would bet that the FBI will be called in. That being said, you can bet that someone will be investigating the shippers, the shipping company, the "pawn shop" and the guys that purchased the stolen machine. All that might take some time, as there are plenty of people to ask a lot of probing questions to by law enforcement. Like, how much more stuff was stolen? How much more stolen merchandise has the pawn shop purchased and who was that other merchandise stolen from? Who bought the other stolen merchandise and where is it now? Did the resellers know that the merchandise was stolen also and how many times have they done that in the past? They might even contact buyers that potentially bought stolen merchandise at the pawn shop, with no idea that it was stolen at the time. Lots of blame to go around. Lets call that police work, now that law enforcement people have a lead.
U ship may also have some blame as well.
Quoted from Joe_Blasi:U ship may also have some blame as well.
U Ship - like all these "gig economy" companies - has done everything it can to insulate itself from any blame. I doubt they have any legal responsibility in this matter.
I still can't believe someone hired these glorified middlemen to ship a $6,000 pinball machine, but that's another matter altogether. Of all the things to save a few bucks on, shipping a pinball machine isn't one of them.
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