If I find my stolen property at a pawn shop, is buying it back my only way of recovering it?

Sometimes it is! cos it happened to me! I called the Police and told them I had found the stuff. All I did was call all the Pawn shops - which the Police could have done quite easily! The first guy told me, the stuff had been brought in by the thief, and he was smart enough to figure the stuff was stolen, and refused to buy it, and told him to go to XXXXXX's shop, which the thief did! and there it was!! You know something, this thief happened to be the landlord's son, and had just got out of jail two months before! 8 days later, he was actually caught in the act, with a car load of "goodies". I asked the Police if I could testify at his trial, along with all the other victims, and was told I would be wasting my time to do so! That wasn't the end of the story. The landlord's son, when he broke into the house, busted the back door in. The landlord told me I was to pay for replacing it!!! Like H-- I did! Three months go by, and while we were having dinner, there was a knock on the front door. There stood a couple telling me they wanted to look at the house!!! I asked, for what reason!? They told me they had BOUGHT the house, and just wanted to take inventory of the contents of the house. In other words, WHAT belonged to the Landlord!!! When we moved in, the house was bare, no carpets - nothing. I told them this fact but allowed them a quick peek. Just before they left, they turned round and asked me and my family, when we were going to move! THIS was on 23rd of the month. No notice given to us by the Landlord!! I told them I would have to talk to him about this sudden move as we had no notification of the LandLord's intentions! Later, I was told, the escrow had closed and we had until the end of the month to get out!!! Yes! we were stupid! We should have got a lawyer right then, but fate was with us and I found a place to live right up the street, so we left! You think THAT's the end of the story! Oh NO!!! Two weeks into the next month, I don't know how they found out where I was living, I was served with the paper, telling me I had the surrender the carpet and other items which we took with us when we moved!!! MY STUFF, not theirs!!! Fortunately, I had kept receipts, so I could prove the stuff was actually mine!! YES! there again, we were stupid, we should have sued the beggers for pulling all this on us! But we didn't! Lesson learned! Sorry to rattle on like this, but, even though all this happened years ago, it is still fresh in my mind. When a person is robbed, it's like being raped, and you never forget that.

that's really messed up...since the police has been involved from the beginning it shouldn't matter about a warranty on

your item. Really you're the victim. Since the pawn shop won't help you, I would pay the interest fee monthly so you won't lose your item. I would think they would hold it for you and they should have insurance for unfortunate situations like this. Or at least hold it for you til this matter is resolved. I'm sure they won't go broke.

That really pisses me off. Good luck

Unfortunately...when your stolen goods get sold to the pawn shop they are not to blame... The crooks lied to them (which is a felony) stating the goods are belong to them... The crooks get $ from the pawn dealer... The police locate your goods at the pawn shop... If your lucky and they haven't been melted down... You can and have to pay what ever was paid out to the crooks to get it back if you want it back.. It's rotten ...especially if you don't have the money to pay out to buy your things back... The pawn shop gets what they put out and you have to go to court and TRY to get retribution from the crooks when they get sentenced... Fine thing right? If they go to jail ..which is great...but doesn't get you your $ or your things back one way or another... =(

By all means, inform the police. However, if you really want your stuff back, buy it from the pawn shop. You won't get reimbursed, but it will sure save you a lot of hassle.

The pawn shop should have records of who sold it to them. So, tell the police where it is, and they will be able to give it back to you and track that person down.

Call the police and tell them where it is. It will take forever, but they will eventually return it to you. Or just buy it back. It's much quicker.

If you have proof of ownership like receipt that states the serial number or other evidence that would prove ownership, you have a case. The pawnshop is liable under law, in our country it is called anti-fencing law. And there is prison term and fine, depending of the value of the stolen goods.

Tell the police.

The goods are evidence and how the pawn broker got them could be important.

You could, conceivably, be in trouble if you don't tell the police that you now know where your goods are.....

i agree with insider, angie & nuclears...