Should I call the police if a valet stole 160 bucks from my car?

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blackacre-seeker_IHB

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Hi folks,

I have this dilemma: should I call the police and file a report?

Last week, I withdrew 180 bucks from the ATM and put them in my glove compartment in the car, and totally forgot about it. On Friday, I had an important business lunch, and I was running late for it, so I gave the keys to the valet without even remembering to lock the glove compartment (it was in Habana restaurant in Costa Mesa). Today I remembered about the money, looked inside, and there was 1 $20 bill and 2 $1 bills there instead of $160. Nobody else has the key or any kind of access to my car.

Besides the fact that I feel like a total sucker for being such an easy crime victim, should I call the police? Would they just tell me to forget about this b/c it is not a huge amount? Should I go there again, posing as a customer, put some money in there again, and put a hidden camera in?

Any ideas/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I would call and complain to the restaurant (if it's their valet). If it happened to you then it has probably happened to someone else or will happen again. If they get enough people complaining they might have an idea who is behind this. The camera idea is good but you may have to go to the restaurant every week until you catch the guy which could end up costing a lot of time and money.
 
I use valets a lot. At casinos no less. I always assume the valet will be rifling through my shit, and leave my car accordingly. That means no paper money (pennies are OK) and lots of fun sharp rusty objects in unexpected places.



The world is not a fair place. Sorry for your loss, but you got screwed. The cops won't do squat.
 
That's exactly how I feel, I always lock this compartment up b/c it does have a lock, but this time I was too rushed, and besides I forgot completely that I made this withdrawal. That's 16 lunches at 10 bucks each, bummer...

Calling the restaurant seems like a good idea, b/c they only had 1 valet there that day, so it is very easy to figure out who did this, besides, I never forget a face, can definitely pick him out of a lineup.

Also, of course the police won't bother to do this, but if they dusted it for prints, and found valet's prints on the compartment, it is a pretty good circumstantial evidence that tied him to this, since he really did not have any legitimate business even touching the compartment....
 
[quote author="blackacre-seeker" date=1224767792]

Also, of course the police won't bother to do this, but if they dusted it for prints, and found valet's prints on the compartment, it is a pretty good circumstantial evidence that tied him to this, since he really did not have any legitimate business even touching the compartment....</blockquote>
Circumstantial but very, very weak. Can you prove you're even missing anything? A police report would be a complete waste of the officer's time, unless the loss is large enough to be written off your taxes, which I'm certain is not the case. Sometimes things roll your way, sometimes they don't. You could try hiding a camera but how much would that cost in time and money? Do it if it'll be worth the satisfaction you would get, but be careful to not get the camera and the recorder stolen. ;-)
 
Well, technically speaking (dusting off my evidence class notes), my testimony that the money is missing is evidence by itself. Of course, credibility is always an issue here...

Somehow I doubt I'll have a jury trial on this, with Clarence Darrow prosecuting the thief valet...

Let it be a forewarning to anyone going to Habana in the future though...
 
Was it the same valet guy that both took your keys and parked your car? at least that way you could narrow it down to one person for the restaurant.
 
I was a valet through college, this sorta thing is extremely common. Give them your car key and nothing else. They especially love using your speedpass to fill gas up in their cars. I even knew a valet couple who would enjoy each others company in some of the bigger nicer customer cars. I myself never valet now, I just have too many stories as evidence against using it.
 
While probably not useful in getting the valet prosecuted, it doesn't hurt to file a police report and you will need it if you ever decide to file an insurance claim or support a loss on your taxes. Was the Picasso and Stradivarius in your car also taken by the valet?
 
How could you leave money not in your wallet?



Contact the place and let them know. If they get it too much then they'll fire the douchebag. In the Focus nothing was ever rifled though.... they judged me completely on the car :lol: !

-bix
 
Sorry to be late to the party, I've had a "cookie" issue and haven't been able to log on for a few days.



My advice is to file a theft report. Perhaps they have others at the same restaurant. You'll have to have the "name" of your "suspect" though....he won't technically be a suspect, but a "witness". He can't be a suspect unless someone actually saw him do it.



Unfortunately, not much will be done with this report. Detective's MIGHT make a phone call to the restaurant.....but it will probably just get filed away.



All: Use your car's valet key if you have one, lock the glovebox, lock the trunk, take anything that's valuable - with you. DON'T leave portable nav systems in the car either....nor the cords. They'll take those too.
 
Hey, blackacre...



I thought of you when I read this today. You may have left a wad of cash in the car - but at least you didn't leave <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/simon-garage-scott-2203978-door-car">$500k worth of jewels!</a>
 
You don't say, I'm lucky I don't own anything expensive :)

The reason the money wasn't in my wallet b/c when I made the withdrawal from the ATM, I was rushing home, so I just put the wad in the glove box and then completely forgot about it until yesterday because I had a crazy week at work. Yesterday I remembered about my stash and got all excited, looked inside, and boom-most of it gone...

The irony is that I never have more than 20 bucks of cash, but I decided to control my spending and pay cash when buying groceries instead of a credit card. Talk about getting off to a rough start :) Another thing that is very ironic that I'm pretty paranoid, so I always lock it, and give just the key to the valets. That time though I was in such a hurry I even gave him my whole set of keys including my house key. Now I'm starting to worry that he made a copy of my keys as well and is going to pay me a visit or "refer this case" to one of his criminals buddies...

I think I'll call the restaurant tomorrow and see what they say, and then perhaps call the police afterwards.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes...
 
This is one of the many, many reasons that I never valet my car...



I am also VERY careful at the car-wash.



Pretty much these days, if you need to leave your car in anyone else's hands (auto shop, car wash, etc...) take a box before you leave, empty everything you have in the car into the box... and leave the box in your garage. You can always throw the entire box of crap back in your trunk when you get home.
 
[quote author="blackacre-seeker" date=1224851253]You don't say, I'm lucky I don't own anything expensive :)

The reason the money wasn't in my wallet b/c when I made the withdrawal from the ATM, I was rushing home, so I just put the wad in the glove box and then completely forgot about it until yesterday because I had a crazy week at work. Yesterday I remembered about my stash and got all excited, looked inside, and boom-most of it gone...

The irony is that I never have more than 20 bucks of cash, but I decided to control my spending and pay cash when buying groceries instead of a credit card. Talk about getting off to a rough start :) Another thing that is very ironic that I'm pretty paranoid, so I always lock it, and give just the key to the valets. That time though I was in such a hurry I even gave him my whole set of keys including my house key. Now I'm starting to worry that he made a copy of my keys as well and is going to pay me a visit or "refer this case" to one of his criminals buddies...

I think I'll call the restaurant tomorrow and see what they say, and then perhaps call the police afterwards.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes...</blockquote>


I do the same to control my spending. It's too easy to spend with a credit card. However, I rarely use valet parking. I would file somekind of report so at least the restaurant is aware of the valet people. In this economy, they don't want to loose any customer.
 
[quote author="blackacre-seeker" date=1224851253]You don't say, I'm lucky I don't own anything expensive :)

The reason the money wasn't in my wallet b/c when I made the withdrawal from the ATM, I was rushing home, so I just put the wad in the glove box and then completely forgot about it until yesterday because I had a crazy week at work. Yesterday I remembered about my stash and got all excited, looked inside, and boom-most of it gone...

The irony is that I never have more than 20 bucks of cash, but I decided to control my spending and pay cash when buying groceries instead of a credit card. Talk about getting off to a rough start :) Another thing that is very ironic that I'm pretty paranoid, so I always lock it, and give just the key to the valets. That time though I was in such a hurry I even gave him my whole set of keys including my house key. Now I'm starting to worry that he made a copy of my keys as well and is going to pay me a visit or "refer this case" to one of his criminals buddies...

I think I'll call the restaurant tomorrow and see what they say, and then perhaps call the police afterwards.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes...</blockquote>


Well, Blackacre these things happen. Read the article, it may make you feel better. $160.00 is no small amount, but at least you didn't do something this foolish:



<a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/simon-garage-scott-2203978-door-car">Thieves steal $500,000 worth of jewelry from unlocked car</a>
 
[quote author="SoOCOwner" date=1224891770][quote author="blackacre-seeker" date=1224851253]



Well, Blackacre these things happen. Read the article, it may make you feel better. $160.00 is no small amount, but at least you didn't do something this foolish:



<a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/simon-garage-scott-2203978-door-car">Thieves steal $500,000 worth of jewelry from unlocked car</a></blockquote>


Wow, that story is a real eye opener.
 
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