I was robbed! Literally!

[bkdavidson]

Hey everyone, just wanted to have you all learn from my bad experience. On Saturday my sell-out top 40's band had a gig and someone ripped off all our PA gear along with my bass amp and my pedalboard afterward. It happened between 2:00 am and 8:50 am when I walked out the door to go to church, so I guess the thief followed me home and then did their work (everything spends the night in my car).

So what did we learn? First, be wary of anyone who asks you a lot about your gear. We think we know who did it, and he asked us a lot about our set-up. Secondly, take an inventory of all your gear. And I mean all of it. Get serial numbers and model numbers and keep them together in a safe place. I had well over $1000 in pedals on my pedalboard (I use it for guitar, but we do a couple Muse songs so I need distortion) and I might never see them again. I also had an original SWR SM-400 head on which the previous owner installed a cooling fan. I bought it on ebay, so there's no real record of the serial number. Thirdly, if you rent, make sure you have renter's insurance. Even though everything was stolen out of my car, since there was no damage to the vehicle (the driver's side door lock has been busted a while), it would be covered under renter's insurance. . . if I'd had it.

Also, none of us are impervious to this. I live in a good, middle-class neighborhood in suburban St. Louis (which is probably why I live so hand-to-mouth). A few years ago while I still drove my old car, the A/C was broken and for an entire summer and I left it parked in my carport WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN THE WHOLE TIME!!!! Nothing ever happened. There have been times where I've left for work (I teach lessons, so I'm at work in the evenings when everyone else is home) and not locked my door, and nothing happened. It just takes one freakin' jerk, though. . .

There were obviously many preventative measures that could have been taken to avoid this, like taking the gear back to the secure, locked studio it was going to the next day right after church. Or having the lock on my door fixed, or having renter's insurance before (if you don't have it and think it's too expensive, apparently you can have $15,000 of property coverage for $8.50 a month ) But I'm a complete moron and didn't, so I'm hoping something good can come of it and maybe I can help prevent it from happening to someone else. I hope you all have a pleasant day.

P.S.--If your stuff gets stolen and there's no damage to your car and you don't have renter's insurance, bust out a window before you call the cops.

[billkath]

Dreadful news.
+1 on taking photographs and getting all your serial numbers down. Any chance the cops will catch them? I presume you've alerted craigslist and all the music shops in your area?

[derek]

Ah man, I hate to hear stories like this. I am so sorry. Not much worse than a thief. Insurance coverage on any of it? You live in St. Chaz county, west county? I was just in O'Fallon last weekend for work.

[saponsky]

Very sad my friend. No one's exempt from this. We all have something to learn about this story. Even good security measures may be breached but at least you it make thieves work harder ;-)

[mr. beaumont]

that sucks, i'm sorry to hear that.

I also learned the hard way never to keep anything of value in a car overnight. Lost a first gen iPod that way, many years ago, AND had a broken window to fix.

[NSJ]

Very sorry to hear this---I have a couple of valuable (small) things in my car now--will take them upstairs, post haste

[Gambrosius1984]

Animals! I can't believe someone would do this. Well, actually, with how desparate some people are, it is sadly believable. Though material posessions are nice, at least you are ok and they can be replaced. Hopefully you can recover your equipment in the long run. Still, it is terrible this happenend.

[fep]

Originally Posted by bkdavidson

P.S.--If your stuff gets stolen and there's no damage to your car and you don't have renter's insurance, bust out a window before you call the cops.

And then go tho church? lol

But seriously, that theft is a bummer and something I worry about.

[fumblefingers]

been there, done that. other lessons learned/preventative measures.

next time the phone book comes out make sure that you get your address unlisted.

look in your rearview mirror when you're going home. don't go to your house, street, or even your neighborhood if you see a constant presence behind you. turn off, go in circles, pull them into a trap and then speed off if you have an opening and see if they follow. carry a gun. plot alternate routes in advance. lead them to a cop station even.

take different routes home each night. break up the pattern.

[bkdavidson]

Fep, hopefully everyone will understand that I'm joking, but thanks for calling me out on that anyway. Derek, I'm not quite out in St. Chuck county (dig the "St. Chaz," never heard that one) but I am out in west county. Fumblefingers, that's some good advice as well. Thank you all for your kind words of sympathy. The guitarist and I went back up to the bar last night to talk to the owner to see if he knew who the alleged thief was, and he did. Then, later on the guy showed up! I got his plate number and a description of his truck and gave it to the cops this morning.

[billkath]

Good. He probably won't have the stuff in his house anymore, but at least it's a start. But-you never know. Thieves usually do something stupid.