I access this site often, but rarely post. Had to pass this info on(and vent).
So, I went fishing with a buddy on Veterans Day(thank you all for your service) on IOP. I got called away from fishing to run an unexpected errand in the middle of the day so we rammed our crab net into the mud and secured our minnow bucket to it anticipating to come back in an hour(we were in the middle of nowhere, no foot traffic whatsoever). When we came back our net was destroyed as Einstein-thief tried to pull the rope over the net instead of pulling the pole out of the mud. Well, he finally figured it out, took our bait bucket, about 3 dozen mudminnows, and put the ruined net back into the mud. We were irate as we didn’t have a cast net on hand to catch more bait and had limited time. Well wouldn’t you know it, we found the guy at another spot with our bucket, bait, and casually fishing!. The sad part of the story is you would think that it was a kid, but no, it was an older man(with his wife) who when confronted said, “I’m busted, you got me.” No remorse. No sorry. Just stared at the ground as we berated him. By the way, he and his wife were well dressed, his two fishing poles/reels were of the highest caliber, and when he left he jumped onto his really nice golf cart. WTF? The man is in his late 60s and has a white beard. He is officially dubbed “Bad Santa”. I took his picture, which he didn’t object to. Seemed like this was a familiar scenario for him. This site should start a link called “wall of shame” where pictures of all of the thieves are posted. Granted, a minnow bucket is $10 and a crab net is $10, but free time is priceless and this man took that from me.
PS I would have given the guy as much bait as he wanted if he would have asked…
I think that is awesome a thief is finally caught. I guess his admittance kept him from getting his a$$ kicked. He’s probably figured that out through the years.
I agree that free time is priceless. Berating him seems tame compared to what he really deserved. You showed more self restraint than most would have given- regardless of the guy’s age.
South Carolina
“The lowest-level theft offense is called “petit larceny,” or petty theft, which is a misdemeanor under South Carolina law. Petit larceny is defined as the theft of property or services valued at $2,000 or less. Petit larceny in South Carolina is punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of no more than 30 days, or by a fine not to exceed $1,000.”
Maybe the embarrassment of a GAM paying a fine for petty theft would make him think twice next time.
Again, we were in the middle of nowhere, probably 20 minutes for an officer to show up. He high tailed it out of there. If he shows his face again I’m posting his picture.
Sounds like you got off easy. I wonder about the owners of the rods and golf cart?
We’ve had deep cycle batteries stolen off of our boat while it was tied up at our dock. It’s really frustrating to see how low some people will go.
That kind of stuff needs to be reported. At the very least it gets the local LEO’s clued in as to what is happening in their areas. I always tell people to report anything stolen, regardless of the $ amount. It brings attention to the areas and gets on the crime reports maps that are vital to future crime prediction and, in turn, reduction.
This is petit larceny as 23 said, and the guy would have either forked over cash to me there for the damages, or i would have called LE and followed him in his golf cart if need be.
Sandandson, I don’t want to sound like a thief, but if I was still a kid and saw your treasure abandoned I would most likely have gotten it. Now as an older person I would not have messed with it and just thought someone hopefully will be coming back for it.
Big difference someone taking stuff from private property and taking it from a public place with no one around it. The fact that the “old” dude was fishing near-by probably suggested that he though it was abandoned and you were not coming back.
I write my name and phone number on most of my gear with hopes that a good samaritan will return it to me if it’s recovered.
Unless your gear was on your personal property it sounds like you abandoned your property and he took possession. There’s really nothing to file a report on or follow up with.
Capt. R. Killin
“Day Tripper”
Shamrock 20 cuddy
Ford 351W
Where on IOP is in the middle of nowhere where a minnow bucket thief has access to his golf cart and it takes a cop 20 minutes to get there? IOP is about 6 miles long and you can drive from one end to the other in 10 minutes. Somethings aren’t adding up. Nothing happens on here without pictures so post the guys pic.
Thanks for your concern blueline. Who says I haven’t followed up on it on multiple levels.
I don’t have an answer for that question, ( even though there was no punctuation at the end of it). I replied 4 days after your post so it appeared to me that you had not reported it… thus my post. Sounds like you have more of an ax to grind with people here than you had with a thief who apparently makes a habit of it. Again, … thus the lesson from one who has taken hundreds of incident reports.
