Have you been a victim of a crime?

I’ve been exempted from jury duty, and that got me thinking about how many times I’ve been the victim of a crime.

  • In junior high, someone stole $20 out of my locker in gym class;
  • In high school, someone stole a CB radio out of my bedroom;
  • I stopped for gas once on the way home from Edwards AFB, and someone stole all of my cassette tapes out of my car;
  • In L.A. someone stole the stereo out of that same car (Porsche 924) twice;
  • Someone stole the wiper and arm off of my Jeep one Christmas Eve, just before I was about to drive 300 miles in a snow storm;
  • Hit & run on my first Prius on the freeway in Everett;
  • Hit & run on the Jeep when it was parked in front of the house;
  • One of my motorcycles was stolen (returned trashed).

So nine times for me.

You?

ETA: Added the stolen motorcycle, and updated the count.

I middle school, somebody stole my clarinet from my locker.

Twice (once in college, and once when living in downtown Denver), I’ve had my lock cut and my bike stolen.

(ETA: I’m male. I expect that, for most men, property crime will be the norm, followed by low level physical violence. For women, if we include unwanted touching (battery) and predation, then sex crimes are going to be most common. Just a morbid guess).

Yes, threatened by a burglar with a knife, almost raped, assaulted (Each was a separate incident). All 3 times I was saved by a friend walking in on it, and cops were called. This was in college in the 70s. I was quietly studying in my room each time.

All of mine are property crimes and many involve cars:

  • Had a party at my house and someone took $50 in cash from my brother’s bedroom. Jerk.

  • Pickpocketed twice while traveling in Africa. About $20 each time. These things happen in poor countries.

  • Left my car unlocked overnight in front of my house and someone opened the door and pried out the touchscreen / radio. About $1000 to repair and replace.

  • Hit and run. Guy rear ended me, got out of the car as if to apologize, then ran back into his car and drove off. Didn’t ger the licence. About $1000 in damage.

  • Someone tried to take the catalytic converter out from under my car. Luckily a neighbor spotted them and called the cops and they took off before they finished.

  • And now the weird one: My car was parked outside of my apartment building, in a big lot. Overnight, thieves smashed the driver’s window to get into the car, then removed one of the back doors and took it. It turns out replacing a door is not easy and the car was finally ruled a total loss. My insurance company were jerks about it too.

Only property crimes for me, as well, and few of those, at that.

  • When I was 13 or so, our house was broken into while we were on vacation. It was one of a series of break-ins in the neighborhood, by a group of boys around my age; the instigator was our paperboy, who knew when people were going to be on vacation (due to having to process “vacation holds” on the newspaper). They trashed my room, and stole my coin collection.
  • Someone smashed open a window on my car while it was parked at a train station, looking for valuables.

I paid a guy $2300 to install a metal ceiling inside my barn. I (stupidly) paid upfront, and he ran off with the money.

Back in college, someone stole the radar detector from my car, and then smashed my windshield.

I was assaulted (hit in face) by a drunk guy at a high school party
Someone broke into my home and stole some stuff once.
Our house sitter’s friend stole our check book and wrote some bad checks
Probably a few other things I’m forgetting about.

The catalytic converter last February!

That makes ten for me.

1980s:
apartment break-in w. theft of various electronic gear and valuables
1990s:
car smash-in to try and take radio (failed);
check lifted and cashed before I could notice
2000s:
someone swiped the chrome exhaust tip off my car parked on the street
20teens:
house break-in w. theft of cash and jewelry (oddly all the portable electronics left unmoved)

Ooops, I forgot one. When I was single, just out of college, and sharing a house with a couple of other guys, one of my housemates had a friend over as a houseguest; said “friend” slipped into my room when no one was looking, and stole my wallet.

I was punched hard by a kid in elementary school while his dimwit buddy stood watch. The principal was not pleased with them and they never bothered me again.

Someone broke into my dorm room in college and trashed it, but not too badly.

Someone broke into our garage a few years back and stole some garden tools and a bike.

At least five times now, someone’s gotten hold of a credit card number of mine and gone on a spending spree. Each time, either because a merchant or I reported it promptly, I wasn’t held financially responsible for any of the purchases.

I lived in LA and Vegas, so the answer is a most definite yes. I don’t want to recall them all individually.

Got into it with a bully in junior high and a different one in high school once each. Not quite sure that constitutes a crime then or now. Unpleasant in any case.

Had my bike stolen from the bike racks at the high school once.

Had a mugger try to steal my 35mm camera while I was touristing solo on a break during an “adventure” (as we called them) for USAF. Ended badly for him, fine for me. Did get a cool scar out of it.

Had 3 muggers try to steal wallets, etc. from myself and the 3 other Army guys I was with. They thought they’d interrupt our evening of bar-hopping, etc. This was near our home base overseas. Ended badly for all 3 of them. Just fine for all 4 of us.

Had my garage burgled of several small power tools (skil-saw, etc). While wife & I were asleep at home and the door between garage and house was unlocked as always. :eek:

Had a window smashed in my raggedy truck, the craptacular factory radio unsuccessfully pried at, and the storage compartments rifled. Can’t say for sure whether I lost anything beyond the damage, but if so it was minor.

Come to think of it, the last of these was in about 1993. So it’s been ~30 crime-free years since. Apparently I no longer lead an adventurous enough life. Gotta get to work on that.

ETA: Ref @Elendil_s_Heir, I’ve long lost count of the number of times I’ve had to replace a credit card after a fraudulent purchase or attempted purchase. More than 10 I’d bet. No way to know in any case whether they got my card info individually, or whether I was just one number among many thousand from a mass data breach like the ones at Home Depot & Target a few years ago.

Someone stole my crappy 3-speed bike when I was living in San Diego - it was my sole means of transport.

Before my folks moved into their house, but after closing, I went there to do some work for them. While I was outside weeding or something, someone went into the kitchen and ran off with my purse. It had over $100 in cash and some irreplaceable personal items. We’re pretty sure it was the kids next door, but there was no way to prove it. I was pissed - I really liked that purse!

More recently, we’ve had 3 credit cards in a row compromised. We’re pretty sure it was happening somewhere along I95 in lesser gas stops. It took a while to figure it out, but once we got a dedicated gas credit card and were more careful about where we refueled, the compromises stopped. Coincidence? Maybe…

Couple of attempted rapes in high school from stupidly getting myself in bad situations. Both times saved through sheer dumb luck.

Domestic violence. In the past, not in the future!

Foolishly left my bike (10 speed, but kind of beat up and rusty) out in front of the gym first month at college for the first time. In high school people would do that and think nothing of it. I then saw the guy riding it 2 months later, identifiable by the squeak it made. Almost tackled him but the cops would likely have charged me. Live and learn.

More youthful naivete’-signed up for an employment agency, where the byline was that you only had to pay them once you got a job. They found one for a rooms-to-own franchise (should have been my 2nd clue), I got paid for half a day of standing around doing nothing, at which point they promptly fired me. Employment agency said that the contract then demanded payment. Obvious that they were in cahoots.

Just me not being careful. Someone lifted by mini-binocs when I was standing on the Green Monster in Fenway as I ate some nachos.

Oil change, a mechanic took all of my loose spare change-which I was planning to use to pay tolls on an upcoming trip. Supervisor more or less covered for them blathering excuses, said he’d give me a free oil change (which I never used-this was a Honda dealership note not some greasy wrench place somewhere).

Amateurs broke into my car c. 2003, stole the front faceplate off of my car stereo but didn’t bother to pry the actual stereo out. Someone in the apt. complex found it and turned it into the office where I recovered it. They also took a CD case, which was never found (resale value w/o the jewelboxes would have been null), had to spend a fair amount to replace them, more than the cost of the faceplate.

2 days before the 2017 eclipse (had half a day’s drive to reach the nearest path), had my binocs in the front passenger wheel well, strap out for easy carrying. [I am a birdwatcher too note handy for checking something out while running errands] Neighbors had a loud party that night. Went out the next morning and both side windows were broken binocs gone (along with yes some more toll change). They must have thought it was a purse no other vehicles had been broken into. None of my other neighbors could be arsed to knock on my door and tell me. This was a Saturday night, with the eclipse on Monday so when I should have been on the road I was getting new window glass since nobody is open on Sunday.

[I plan to be living right in the path of the 2024 one note]

Workers repairing our AC took one of my roommates’ guns-he was NOT happy.

When I was in middle school a buddy of mine was spending the weekend at our house. I told him I was saving up for a CD player (the big new thing at the time). I must’ve mentioned where I kept my cash because the next time I went to deposit a few bucks I learned that half of what I had saved already was missing – something like $80. I had spent a summer mowing lawns and bucking hay for that money, needless to say I never had any contact with that “friend” again.

My wife left our car unlocked once and overnight someone got into it and ripped off a bunch of random crap: an umbrella, a pair of sunglasses, a cell phone charger. Nothing valuable.

My car was broken into once in downtown Portland. Someone jimmied the lock. All that was stolen was a notebook that I kept in the glovebox that had all the maintenance records in it – as well as the registration card. That one sucked, because I couldnt drive it for a day or two until I could get to the DMV and get a new card.

My son’s bicycle was stolen out of the back yard once. He claims to have seen a neighborhood kid riding it some months later. He never rode it so wasnt too upset.

My brother once threatend to kill me, and he was serious.

I think that’s it.

I’ve had a gas-station-only card for a few years now. It sure helps contain the damage when, not if, it gets compromised.

Thanks for the reminder regarding stolen bikes.

I had one stolen in high school when I left the garage door open one night.
And one stolen in Chicago, even though it had been locked up at a bike rack while I was in class.

A cousin was raising money recently for a charity in Pakistan and I chipped in $1000 (because it was a cause close to my heart and I had benefited from it as a child). Turned out it was a scam. Dunno if my cousin was in on it or was just another victim.

I was robbed at knifepoint in NYC in the late 1980s when this was depressingly common. I lost about $40. Found my wallet about 500 feet down the street on the sidewalk.

I was pickpocketed in Rome in the 1990s, again when this was quite common. It was a decoy wallet. My real wallet was in a money belt.

My wife’s purse was stolen off the coat rack at a hair salon. The thieves (a couple) were apprehended a block away. After a lot of trial prep as a witness the case was resolved somehow, we weren’t told how.

My very cheap hubcaps were stolen from my car in 1995 or so when my car was parked in my apartment complex parking lot. They made off with the hubcaps from almost every car in that section of the lot, a sort of cul-de-sac between a building and a retaining wall.