I recently had my iPod and it's accesories stolen by a family friend. It was found missing hours after he was the only person left alone with my belongings for a short period of time, and through friends we learned that he and a friend sold an iPod at an ebay store in our area. I went online and found it, the pictures showed my headphones, case, and in one with it turned on it showed my artist list with a tell-tale sign of Alanis Moresette there twice (spelled two different ways.)
I made a claim with a police officer, showed him the ebay page of it. I couldn't find the papers that came with the iPod serial number and it wasn't registered. But it had many pictures of myself on it, and other things I told the officer that could help identify it as mine, and the ebay page said it was being sold with my music still on it, meaning it still had my pictures too (because you can't delete just parts of it without the computer it's used to being connected to.) The officer went to the ebay store to see if it really was mine and they surrendered it to him when they identified my pictures. I came down there and took it back into my possesion when they told me I could.
They asked me if I wanted to press charges and I said I would think about it. I think I should, because he should be punished for stealing my things, and my friends and I suspect he has stolen and done the same with other things.
But I want to know what will happen if I do press charges? We live in California and are both 18, I believe it will be his first charge. Will I have to go to court and testify? Will I have to go multiple times? Will it cost me money? Is he likely to be convicted and what would a typical conviction for this be? The officer put in the report about $300 value to the stolen items.
Will I be able to know if he is being charged with other thefts? Because I believe that if there are multiple thefts and others are suspected it can become a felony with mandatory one year of jailtime. And though I'd like him to have repercussions I don't want him to have that much time in jail, and fear that he may come after me and my friends if we are responsible for 'ruining his life'. He is a cumpulsive liar and I don't believe he will ever admit guilt to anyone, and I wonder if he actually believes it himself. He says he is bi-polar (which I doubt, though I do believe he has some sort of mental illness). Will this have much impact on the case?
In short, will it be worth my wile to press charges to make sure these things are on his records and it may help prevent it from happening again, or even just to see some repercussions for his actions?
I made a claim with a police officer, showed him the ebay page of it. I couldn't find the papers that came with the iPod serial number and it wasn't registered. But it had many pictures of myself on it, and other things I told the officer that could help identify it as mine, and the ebay page said it was being sold with my music still on it, meaning it still had my pictures too (because you can't delete just parts of it without the computer it's used to being connected to.) The officer went to the ebay store to see if it really was mine and they surrendered it to him when they identified my pictures. I came down there and took it back into my possesion when they told me I could.
They asked me if I wanted to press charges and I said I would think about it. I think I should, because he should be punished for stealing my things, and my friends and I suspect he has stolen and done the same with other things.
But I want to know what will happen if I do press charges? We live in California and are both 18, I believe it will be his first charge. Will I have to go to court and testify? Will I have to go multiple times? Will it cost me money? Is he likely to be convicted and what would a typical conviction for this be? The officer put in the report about $300 value to the stolen items.
Will I be able to know if he is being charged with other thefts? Because I believe that if there are multiple thefts and others are suspected it can become a felony with mandatory one year of jailtime. And though I'd like him to have repercussions I don't want him to have that much time in jail, and fear that he may come after me and my friends if we are responsible for 'ruining his life'. He is a cumpulsive liar and I don't believe he will ever admit guilt to anyone, and I wonder if he actually believes it himself. He says he is bi-polar (which I doubt, though I do believe he has some sort of mental illness). Will this have much impact on the case?
In short, will it be worth my wile to press charges to make sure these things are on his records and it may help prevent it from happening again, or even just to see some repercussions for his actions?
