haha

Well Mike your a better guy than I because I don't believe the guy is worth fiddy cent much less 20K.

If this was indeed a prank and it carried over to a certain degree, action can be taken to obtain the IP address and other vital info on the person who was pulling the prank.

All the dumbass has to do is say a little too much, like tell someone he sold the machine to Mr. X if they want it they can find that guy. Authorities show up to Mr. X's property with a search warrant for purchasing stolen property, nothing is found and then it is known that it was a dramatic prank.

The prankster now gave the authorities reason to go to craigs for personal info because he pulled off the equivalent of sending a SWAT team to someones house on a goose chase for a $20,000 item. The police need only say "Hey craigs! We need the IP address and email adress of the person who posted this particular ad, here is a summons."

It sounds crazy but honestly, how hard is it to tell someone via email that you sold the machine to someone else and you named that person who supposedly bought it? We do it all the time!

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

I've bought 100s of pins and I don't think I've ever told the seller my name or address.

If the buyer does not use the Restricted feature on his phone, maybe the seller could provide a number.

It has been my experience that even if you tell the cops where your stolen goods are, they "just don't have the manpower" to ever follow up on it.

Too many traffic tickets to write.

That's been my belief from the beginning, but then we got the OP saying stuff like this:

So who the hell knows what reality is?

Then we can track down his mainframe and bring his entire criminal empire crashing down around him.

if you tell the cops where your stolen goods are, they "just don't have the manpower" to ever follow up on it. Too many traffic tickets to write.

Houston doesn't have the luxury to write traffic tickets because they are dealing with larger issues, there's no time to keep cops sitting along the freeway to hand out tickets. In the burbs they do that... this is a felony $20k theft, not a misdemeanor traffic ticket. Check out this article on craigslist harassment, something as simple as having weirdo's knocking on their neighbors door had these two Einsteins arrested.

http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/26426959/duo-behind-fake-golf-cart-ads-on-craigslist-fight-harassment-law

If the buyer does not use the Restricted feature on his phone, maybe the seller could provide a number.

I usually don't answer anonymous or blocked calls, do you?

I have received a few text messages to my phone via web browser in the past, people sometimes like to use them because they are a little more anonymous... an IP address is usually sent with your message however since you are given the option to include a number, which you can falsify easily.

Where do you get they don't write tickets? They are everywhere writing tickets. They sit on the side of the freeway or in school or church parking lots. Its all about the money and real crime doesn't pay. Just go downtown to fight a ticket and see how many are in the courts and tell me they don't write tickets.

When someone stole a truck from me it was hours before a cop got there and they pretty much told me they would never find it. I said that all they had to do was put out on the radio to look for the described truck with no license plates but they cant do that. Two weeks later when the POS hit someone and killed them they were looking for ME for felony hit and run. It pissed me off so bad that I told them to come get my ass but to look in their records first and see that the truck was stolen. If they would have looked for it they might have found it and saved that life. Yes I understand that cars are stolen every day but not huge one ton dually pickups with MY dealer stickers on it and no plates.

LOL, right.

When you are selling a game on CL you pretty much have to, as 1/2 the people have their number blocked.

Dammit that was a funny movie.

And I hear they may even be making a Pinball machine out of it...

Wish I had the cash to put up a deposit and sit on it till they get it done..... if they get it done.

627 square miles with no solid lead is hard to cover. Same thing happened to my uncle, his mustang wound up in a robbery two weeks later. The radio's are not used for the purpose of describing stolen cars either, I could tell you what they use them for but they wouldn't like me putting that info out there.

LOL, right.

Come to Houston and try doing 90 on the freeway, its not that hard to do for a 50 mile trip from one side to the other without getting pulled over.

Officers are assigned a task, if they have no assigned task, which is hard not to have in the city of Houston as they are shorthanded, then they might have the luxury to watch a stop sign and write a few tickets. You have about 400-500 covering the city per shift and you'd be lucky if 20 of them were on traffic

90? That is the slow lane. I drive faster than that in my 4 cylinder beater Honda. Hell, I ride my 250 Honda Helix scooter 70. I need my radar detector on it.

That's what voicemail messages are for.

Can we get some cliffs notes on this debacle?

Not sure how much control the Mods or Admin have over the board but, it would be interesting to see if any masks accounts were created recently since the approximate posted theft date and if they are accessing the forums monitoring this thread in particular. If so maybe an IP comparison to current members & trace just to get a general idea of the login location of the local isp.

I hate to keep beating a dead horse but 99.99% this thief is known to Mike, knows what he had and his whereabouts schedule and when to hit, in addition it would really suck if one of the Pinsiders bought his stolen machine even worse would be if one of us was actually the thief.

This info if there is any may actually be beneficial to the police for apprehension and for the admins to weed out the bad seeds in our community.

I don't care if someone blocks their number.

If I have an ad, and you call with a Restricted number, I'd rather answer it right then, than wait and listen to voicemail.

Come and buy whatever junk I'm selling - I don't check ID.

I don't answer blocked numbers. That's just getting off on the wrong foot right there (IMHO). If your number is blocked because you're paranoid then leave me a message or F-off.......I'll sell to someone else.

Just pick a random Scooby Doo episode and watch that. Pretty similar.

Use the new feature - find the a post from the OP (like this first one) and click on the paragraph symbol right next to the word "Quote". This will show just posts form the OP, and those are the only ones that matter in this case. I think anyway....

They should make a pin out of it!

Seems a little silly.

....when seconds counts, help will be there in minutes.

What movie is that?

I've run into the issue where someone's voicemail was full, so I couldn't leave a message. They still called me back, surprisingly.

Some people, especially older people, just always have their number blocked.

I don't take it as a personal insult.

I'll answer the call because I want the game gone.

I have friends over playing pinball, so RIGHT NOW is a good time for someone to come get it. I don't want to stretch the sale into a multi day adventure when I'm back on the road.

Mike,

I hope you find your pinball man...Trying to remain optimistic here, the good news about this pinball missing is how rare it is. Since they only made 200 or so everyone in the pinball community will create a wave when one of them pops up for sale and we all know yours will eventually! If this was an Addams Family Pin that was stolen you'd be in a worse spot since they made 20,000 of them.

So patience is a virtue here. Only a fool would post this for sale within a week of its disappearance. Everyone here will keep their eyes peeled, even in other states and when this baby resurfaces a month, 6 months or a year + from now you will eventually be reunited!

Hang in there man!

Obviously you're not a golfer.

man that BBB really tied the room together.

I wish this was true. I just got a ticket 2 weeks ago on 59N inside the beltway. She was parked on the side of the road shooting radar. 3 in the afternoon on a Thursday.

Call Sullo and Sullo. You will have to sit in court but you will probably get out of the ticket

Shame on you

update op?

What does OP think of TWD photos?

I'm guessing the OP is too busy digging out of moving boxes.
No time for Pins when the honey-do-list is in post-move mode.

Own clubs..haven't played in years.

That clip alone makes me want to watch it.

Lol - I envy you - discovering The Big Lebowski will be a lot of fun. You will need to watch it a few times before you really appreciate it. So don't rent - buy!! And report back on one of the TBL threads.

Bump for visibility and the hope OP gets his BBB back.

I'll keep them in mind. My wife used some guy named Kabash a few years ago. They never showed to court either time. The second time the judge felt bad for her and let her pay the minimum fine. Kabash would not give her the money back ($300).

Should have called Harvey Michaels, he isn't cheap but nobody fu(k$ with Harvey Michaels.

I got one set of tickets one day, school, cell phone, and no front license plate. I saw the sign at the last minute and slowed down but he didn't care, I had my phone sitting on the dash but he said I was using it and Im a car dealer so I don't have a front plate. Next day I was on the lake and I got another set of tickets: Not having my life jacket ZIPPED UP on a wave runner, not having it transferred, I had just bought it, and letting my son who wasn't 16 ride one. Each set was well over $1000. I hired a lawyer that I didn't know anything about because the one I usually use defected to the dark side and became a judge. I had to go sit amongst the unwashed at 7 in the morning two days in a row. The first day the guy never showed up but the cop didn't either, the second day some other lawyer showed up and called me into the back room. We bullshitted for about an hour about how much it sucks having a business in the city of Houston and he told me it was all taken care of and I could go. Its worth getting a lawyer as tickets are expensive as hell now. I said call Sullo and Sullo because a very successful guy I know uses them and they never fail him. You don't always get OUT of the ticket but you will not have to have a moving violation on your record. Going to court sucks ass but if you play you pay.

Loved the comment. I know what you mean! Seems like you are always surrounded by the scummiest of people! And then you wonder why YOU are there! Ha.

Funny, because everyone else in the group is looking around at the others and thinking the same thing.

Things to bring to court:
1) Photo ID
2) Alibi
3) Febreeze

pillow (for neck or butt)
book