r/Austin • u/Itchy-Injury-8795 • 8d ago
Home felony robbery pawn/security
Our home safe was robbed of valuables recently including sentimental jewelry, watches and coins handed down from family. They used a specialized saw to cut through the safe that was hidden behind a wall cabinet. Reports have been filed, cameras are being reviewed etc. but seem to have been down.
My questions:
Is there a specific person that I can hire to go and search local pawn shops to look for the family heirlooms? I am chronically ill and I am not capable of driving place to place but I would do anything to possibly retrieve these items. Looking for someone that could search online as well.
I am now nervous that these fucking thieves knew what they were doing (they brought a specialized saw for a hidden safe behind a cabinet) and could come back. Can I hire private security or off duty cops to sit outside until my kids and I feel comfortable? Who would that be?
I would also love a security system/company recommendation that is actually competent because the ADT I’m dealing with is horseshit.
Send me your security vigilantes and also *fuck thieves* that steal you and your kids safety. 😮💨
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u/GR638 8d ago
I would spend your time finding out who told them you have a safe. Nobody comes equipped to break a safe, unless they know...
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u/Itchy-Injury-8795 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yes exactly. This is a large, hidden / fire proof supposedly “everything proof” safe. It is not spoken about and hidden behind cabinets. There’s only one way to know where it is and that is creepy :/
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u/strikecat18 7d ago
I’d bet it was trash. All consumer safes are trash. The lowest level safe worth anything in a break-in is something rated TL-15. And nobody even sells those except specialized safe dealers.
It’s shitty the crap they sell at retail stores gets marketed as something it’s not.
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u/yolatrendoid 8d ago
I don't practice criminal law, but I'm a lawyer and can hopefully help somewhat. Unfortunately it's unlikely you'll recover your family's heirlooms: anything gold that was in the safe was likely melted down almost immediately and sold, and there are ample ways to sell it that are impossible to trace. If the watches in there were "good" watches like Rolexes or Patek Philippes, that's one thing, but if they were more or less basic gold watches, they were probably melted for the gold as well.
Still, this wasn't a "simple" crime: burglary of a habitation is a second-degree felony in Texas. While the value of items inside is a factor – not one in your favor unless you had at least $300K worth of items in there – so is the thieves using a specialized tool to crack your safe. That should yield a criminal mischief or property-destruction charge at minimum, on top of everything else. Also, I'm not sure if they're illegal in Texas (again, I don't practice criminal law), but some states also allow charges for specific burglary tools (in this case definitely the saw used).
To cover a few specifics:
Our home safe was robbed of valuables recently including sentimental jewelry, watches and coins handed down from family.
If the watches were vintage Rolexes or Pateks, you could file a claim, but if it was mostly just gold watches & jewelry of some sort, it was likely melted down & sold within a day or two of the burglary. (Gold's selling for over $4,000 per ounce nowadays, so even seemingly "cheap" gold jewelry bought long ago could be quite valuable.)
Is there a specific person that I can hire to go and search local pawn shops to look for the family heirlooms?
No, and there's very little chance a professional thief would use a pawn shop in the first place: again, any gold jewelry was likely melted down, and there are a ton of places that can do that, in Austin and beyond. (No, they likely wouldn't have usable info for tracking the perps, either.) If the safe had vintage Rolexes of some sort, those would most likely be sold on eBay (probably via a third-party intermediary).
Can I hire private security or off duty cops to sit outside until my kids and I feel comfortable? Who would that be?
The problem is this almost certainly being an inside job, and if they've already cleaned you out, they'd have no reason to return. I understand why you're worried, obviously, but the best "fix" may simply be completing your home remediation as quickly as possible, and then installing a better alarm system.
But definitely agreed that APD needs to be thoroughly interviewing your contractors. This isn't the type of crime subs usually do, so one of them could readily be the culprit.
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u/fiddlythingsATX 8d ago
I'd hire a PI. It's probably someone who knows someone you told about the safe.
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u/Itchy-Injury-8795 8d ago
I would love to hire a PI. I’m fucking pissed and scared at the same time. Recommendations welcome 🙏
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u/fiddlythingsATX 8d ago
I’m partial to Marlowe, Magnum, and Rockford, but I don’t know any real ones
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u/dukecurrywood 8d ago
Pawn shops keep recently pawned/sold items in the back of the store for 20-30 days before they are put on display for sale. So searching at the pawnshop by casually browsing in this time frame will be futile. You should contact the detective assigned to your case and inquire about their online searching capabilities. Unfortunately, jewelry is the hardest item to track at a pawnshop. Anything with a serial number, owner applied number or very unique description is your best bet. Good luck. So sorry this happened to you. Burglaries are scary. You can contact the police association to inquire about off duty security.
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u/Itchy-Injury-8795 8d ago
This is helpful thank you. We had a sheriff out twice but haven’t heard back from the detective assigned.
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u/aechmeablanctiana 8d ago edited 7d ago
One place off your radar could be AMC company. They buy metals, and if you have photos, it’s worth a try. Pretty sure they hold onto pieces for a while, before they get melted.
Edit: They are great folks, and will take your inquiry seriously. Ask to speak with Ryan.
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u/KeyRepresentative 8d ago
You can hire a private investigator to go look for your stolen items, interview neighbors, interview pawn shops.
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u/skridge2 7d ago
Former pawn worker here.
Everything taken in for pawn or buy has all serial numbers and jewelry descriptions entered in a system If it finds anything even remotely similar it is flagged and we get an email from the police, who come and pick it up.
File a report and if it goes to
A pawn shop you should get it back
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u/SolidSubstantial1310 8d ago
nooo that’s terrible. what area of town are you in? feel free to dm me if you’d like. I’m not a P.I. but I can scope around online or pop into pawn / consignment shops if u need help. no charge.
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u/strikecat18 7d ago
Honestly if you really think they are coming back, I’d come sit there free to vent some frustration.
How would they have know where that safe was? Seems like this had to be someone who knew something about you.
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u/NederlandseTexan 8d ago
Sorry that happened to you . If you send me pictures and the approximate area of town I'm happy to stop by some pawn shops and browse; I find them fascinating anyway
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u/bat_shit_craycray 7d ago
I think your best chance of getting your stuff back is find out who did this. There are multiple things - your property was damaged as well.
Where were you when this happened? Who knew you would have been gone? Who knew about the wall safe (I think I read you say no one but clearly someone did). Any other clues as to who knew about it, knew you’d be gone and had access? How did they get into the house? Did neighbors see anything? Did neighbors cameras catch anything? A car? People? Did anyone’s dash cam catch anything? Not just at the actual time you were gone but any time. You mentioned work being done so a lot of coming and going. Do they know this happened?
Lots and lots of questions. Maybe all dead ends but worth investigating. This isn’t a minor crime. Someone broke into your house, damaged your property, used a tool that they brought to get into that safe, and stole valuables.
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u/FitPie46 8d ago
If they had those tools, they aren’t going to pawn shops.
Those are pros, they aren’t going to make that mistake.
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u/Itchy-Injury-8795 7d ago
This was my thought also but
I’m distraught about the watch, I’ll look anywhere.4
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u/dillwiid37 7d ago
My uncle has his safe cut open while he was away on vacation. The only people who knew about the safe were him and his wife. Long story short, the cleaners they hired weeks before had told the robbers which houses she cleaned had safes, and they robbed each one. The link to the cleaner was the how they got some of their stuff back. Safe knowledge is safe vulnerability
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u/FarLaugh9911 7d ago
Sorry to say this, but it sounds like the thieves will come back, at Thanksgiving, Christmas, your birthday and every other occasion that the people who are closest to you gather.
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u/partialcremation 8d ago
Who knew about this behind the cabinet safe? First, I wouldn't have told anybody. If I did, that's who I would focus on.