*****Stolen Cigarette: RECOVERED

[Damdonzi]

Don't ever let anyone tell you there isn't a Santa Claus!

This morning got a call from the Lexington, Massachusetts police department saying they found the boat parked at the end of cul-de-sac in a very affluent neighborhood just outside Boston, and about 100 miles from where it was stolen over the weekend. A neighbor thought it looked out of place.

Over the last 48-72 hours, somebody spent some quality time surgically removing anything possible out of the boat. It's a shell. Never seen anything like it. I don't know what's worse -having it gone or having it hooked to the back of the Suburban without an engine/outdrive/trim tabs/swim platform/radar arch/dash/seats/interior -not even the damn fire extinguishers. What it did have -was fingerprints.

Will post more information and sickening photos tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice and good wishes from everyone.

[Tom D.]

Glad you got it back!

SUCKS that they striped it!!!

Tom

[Gordie Miller]

Not meticulous enough to clean it good. I hope they fry the bastards.

[rev.ronnie]

Just make sure to get the serial #'s of all the big stuff out there A.S.A.F.P., all the marinas and stuff.

Also, keep posted on people restoring or rigging new boats, the stuff will show up. They knew what they were looking for, and I'm sure they know where the stuff is going. Let them "slip" up

True that, a whole is only as good as the sum of it's parts, but thank god you got the hull back, parts is parts.

[Raceman]

I hope they catch em and lock em up too, 'course nobody gets hard time anymore unless you can convince em it was a hate crime.

Anyhow, congrats on gettin' the boat back. I hope they didn't damage/scratch anything de riggin' it.

I've got a couple of Bravo setups in various stages of completeness. One is the early design that came new on my '89 Pachanga, and it had the newer sleeker style Merc gearcase upgrade added when they became available. It has VERY low hours and I have transom plates with it. The other is the newer style that I got with a burned boat. It's about a 98 model if I recall and was super low hours also. It has transom plates too, but the inner is sooty from the fire and probably ought to have the gimbal bearings replaced at least. Both pieces would have some stuff missing, like steering valve, etc, but might be an econo way to re rig the boat, depending on what the thieves left.

[Jeff_G]

Watch e-bay very carefully. There have been a couple of stolen goods rings recently broken up. One was in NC and another in SC. The SC deal they were selling shoplifted goods. The NC deal they were goods stolen from a dealer/ factory and resold on e-bay. You never know where stuff comes from!
Also visit all the dry storage and marina's and give them a flyer to post of the stolen stuff. Call the state titling dept there and see if you or the local cops can get a list of all the Cigarettes within 200 miles and send them all a flyer. You may scare out the rabbit and he may try to dump the stuff.
Don't count on the cops.

I recently had a burglary of over $3K in antique signs. The cops were useless. We got them back but only because we did all the investigating and leg work. Found the buyer of the stolen goods and the cops actually ended up protecting him!

Good luck.

[Raceman]

"Found the buyer of the stolen goods and the cops actually ended up protecting him!"

No surprise there, that's the way it works now. You'll be lucky if he doesn't sue you for embarrasing him or something.

[baja200merk]

great man happy to hear you got it back

good luck putin those shmucks away!!