Thefts aren’t so petty
By BILL DUNCAN
The View From Here
The other day as I emerged from the post office in downtown Roseburg, Ore., a man was standing alongside a newspaper vending machine holding the door open.
He said to me: "I just put money in this newspaper rack, reach in and grab yourself a newspaper." I informed him that I was a newspaper employee and what he was suggesting was theft.
"It is only 35 cents," he replied, "and I’m trying to get my money’s worth."
"It is still theft," I said.
"Suit yourself," he replied and slammed the newspaper rack closed.
I have always been amazed at how people justify theft. During my Los Angeles newspaper days, Gene Poore, a Los Angeles Times newspaper distributor, was having problems from one of his news racks where he would find thin slugs in the shape of a dime.
Poore staked out the rack and checked the coin container after each customer bought a paper. He found a slug after a man bought a newspaper and went into a coffee shop. Poore confronted him about the theft.
"So what are you going to do about it?" the man said. Poore jotted down the man’s license plate as he drove off. Then he reported the theft to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office and the officers made a petty theft report.
Poore went on about his business.
Several weeks later, the FBI contacted him. The agent explained that the slugs were showing up in pay telephones and soft drink machines, as well as newspaper vending racks and the FBI had been investigating this for some time.
Poore had provided them with a vital link — the culprit’s license plate. The man was arrested. During the trial, in which Poore was called to testify, it was revealed that the man worked on the assembly line for North American Aviation in Downey, Calif.
The slugs were actually metal punch-outs of the aircraft assembly where the suspect worked. He was convicted of "counterfeiting" and sentenced to federal prison.
If that is weird, think about this. When I was a police reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram in Long Beach, Calif., a detective showed me a report on a man passing a bad check to a grocery store cashier. The check passer had entered the store aided by a seeing-eye dog. He bought a fewitems and presented the clerk with a check for $100.
He asked her to help him find the signature line on the check since he was blind. She guided his hand. She asked for identification before cashing the check and he showed her a driver’s license. She cashed the check.
It gets weirder: When I was manager of The American Red Cross chapter in Roseburg, we provided transportation to stranded veterans. We had an arrangement with Greyhound Bus Co. in which we’d write a check to Greyhound and stamp it: No Refunds. This was to prevent misuse of the travel funds.
We assisted a veteran who wanted to go to Eugene, Ore., where he claimed he had a job waiting. The following morning, I received a call from the manager of a small grocery store in Roseburg who said his clerk had cashed the check for the man.
She explained to the manager that the man told her he was an American Indian named Greyhound. I hope the conspirator at the Roseburg Post Office is reading this because certainly what I have written here is worth his 35 cents. It may even make an honest man out of him. But as he said, "Suit yourself."
(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470)