The unthinkable finally happened

[Necromancer]

Man, that sucks shit.  I'd press charges - he's not going to stop on his own, but maybe he'll get the help he needs in jail; sweeping it under the rug makes y'all enablers.

I feel like I am rambling. I just need to get this stuff off my chest by sharing it with my friends here. Thanks in advance for listening.

Nuttin' wrong with that.  Just don't start telling us what you had for breakfast or your colonoscopy results, else we'll have to change your name to soopius.

[end levity mode] 

[Tatsujin]

[BigusSchmuck]

This may be a little extreme:
http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Aircam-Mini-IP-Camera/dp/B008K7TF56/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371044956&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=ubiquiti+minicam
But you can hide it, set a schedule and even set motion detection. Sorry to hear about your loss otherwise.

[_joshuaTurbo]

Matti!   

I'm so sorry to hear about this man!  As hard a decision as this seems to be, the BEST thing is to alert the authorities and go the route suggested:

I would go for pressing charges. When he sold the stuff to the game store he should have been required to hand over driver license info or a state id in compliance with pawn shop laws. I would have a police report filed and inform them you know where the stolen merchandise is located. The store will be required to hand over the goods to the cops. Your brother could probably use the jail time to dry out, or maybe even strike a deal with the prosecution to enter a rehab program for a lighter sentence.

Man, that sucks shit.  I'd press charges - he's not going to stop on his own, but maybe he'll get the help he needs in jail; sweeping it under the rug makes y'all enablers.

It's a "I'm doing this for your own good" moment and if you let him get away with it, it WILL happen again.  Maybe to you or someone else.    A short stay in Jail could be the wake up he needs or it could do nothing, but chances are if he gets away with this one the next time will be more extreme and could land him a longer stay in Jail or worse.  He needs help.

Again, I'm very sorry to hear about all this.  Let us know if you need anything.

[chany60126]

Sorry to hear about that incident, Matt. I hope he didn't take any of your Neo Geo stuff, that would be killer for me.

I agree with everyone else, I think you should alert the authorities. Not so much for getting your games back without having to rebuy them, but for his own good. If he's capable of doing this to his own family, imagine what he might to do to others. It will only get worse. He needs a wake up call, and I think a short visit to jail might do the trick.


I hope things turn around for you.

[soop]

It depends on the jail.  I think rehab is a great idea, but some jails are worse for drugs than regular life.
After all, there's not a lot to do in jail, and it's usually full of bad people who know other bad people.

[Flare65]

Sorry to hear this happen.     Our collections take YEARS to complete and someone destroys it in a heartbeat.  Not cool.  I hope you are able to recover what you lost.

[FiftyQuid]

Damn, I mean... damn.

I feel your pain Mathius.  My mother stole nearly $17K from me.  I won't go into details, but when I confronted her about it and she finally broke down and told me the truth I collapsed in the parking lot and nearly threw up.  Dry heaves came fast and heavy.  I thought for sure I was going to puke all over myself.  Being screwed over by someone you know is bad enough, but when it's family it just knocks the living shit out of you.

I have to agree with the Professor.  Reporting him is the way to go.  Doing nothing is not going to help resolve this.  It's a terrible decision to have to make, but if he's too deeply into drugs then you'll need professional help to help pull him out of it.

[RoyVegas]

I'm going to have to agree with all of the other members who opted for the press charges option.

[Mathius]

I can't express fully my appreciation to all you guys. It means more than you know.

This is a very complicated situation for me as I am trying to do what is best for myself, my brother, and my parents. My brother is the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the number of times he has been in jail over the last 25 years. Jail time just doesn't work for him. My mom and dad are in their 70s and I want their remaining years to be as peaceful as possible. But if my brother dies from his addictions....well you can see my dilemma.

Chany, the Neo goods are safe.

It appears the only way that I am going to be able to get my stuff back from the game store without a police report is for my brother to accompany me into the store to confess his crime. I can guarantee that won't ever happen. My brother is violent, defiant, and defensive.

[EvilEvoIX]

So sad to hear, the loss, the addition in the family.  I hate addicts but I guess they are victims them selves.  They just justify in their heads it's OK to steal from loved ones and if you press charges it's your fault for not loving them enough.

I'd press charges, if your sibling ever recovers he'll thank you later.  Hopefully the judge will put him in treatment then a half way house, it's the only way for sure. 

[nectarsis]

I gotta agree with the police intervention.  If a family member (especially one so close) does this to you, guaranteed he does it elsewhere....which could have even worse results.

[lukester]

Wow, that is very low for your brother to do. I feel saddened by this news. If my brother did that to me, I don't know what I would do.

On the bright side, at least you know who committed this crime, and it wasn't a random burglar. I hope everything goes ok.

[esadajr]

My best wishes to you and your family.

Stuff can be recovered with hard work, but trust can't.

[ProfessorProfessorson]

I can't express fully my appreciation to all you guys. It means more than you know.

This is a very complicated situation for me as I am trying to do what is best for myself, my brother, and my parents. My brother is the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the number of times he has been in jail over the last 25 years. Jail time just doesn't work for him. My mom and dad are in their 70s and I want their remaining years to be as peaceful as possible. But if my brother dies from his addictions....well you can see my dilemma.

Chany, the Neo goods are safe.

It appears the only way that I am going to be able to get my stuff back from the game store without a police report is for my brother to accompany me into the store to confess his crime. I can guarantee that won't ever happen. My brother is violent, defiant, and defensive.

I know its rough but go to the cops then and get it over with. You and your parents, among others, will be better off for it. A temporary pain followed by a nice long stint of peace and quiet. I mean you really have to ask yourself this, who is my brother stealing from today? He's already hit you up and you were family, who knows who else he is robbing or what all he is caught up in. If you stand by doing nothing knowing he is out there stealing, it will hurt worse when eventually you do find out he did a lot more/a lot worse and you could have helped stop him.