# Why would someone steal this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561 "2003-09-19T06:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frankenbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Frankenbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenbear)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/1 "2003-09-19T06:16:14Z")
I enjoy reading weird news stories, especially when a dumb criminal is involved. I came across an interesting [one](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2003/09/04/MNdumbthief.DTL) this evening. > [@](#): > > A 40-year-old man was arrested Wednesday and charged with stealing a computerized tracking device that uses a global positioning system to keep track of jail prisoners on home detention. Why would someone want to steal this? Could he have thought it was something else? Is it possible to sell these? If so, who would buy them? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/2 "2003-09-19T06:27:49Z")
Did he pry it off the guy that was wearing it? ---
**Author:** ![Frankenbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Frankenbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenbear)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/3 "2003-09-19T06:39:18Z")
According to the article it wasn’t pried off. It was temporarily placed outside a home by a woman serving home detention. It is supposedly slightly larger than a brick. ---
**Author:** ![Bibliovore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bibliovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliovore)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/4 "2003-09-19T11:14:00Z")
Maybe he wanted to kep tabs on his wife. “Honey, would you mind keeping this beeping, brick-like thing on you at all times? It’s, uh, one of them new-fangled MP3 player thingies…” ---
**Author:** ![Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/5 "2003-09-19T15:01:31Z")
Why would someone steal a Bob’s Big Boy statue? People do really stupid and pointless things quite often, and I’ve gotten in the habit of not even letting the question of why enter my thought process. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/6 "2003-09-19T15:22:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > \*\*Why would someone steal a Bob’s Big Boy statue? > \*\* Why, to haul over the roof of the high school and drop into the courtyard of course! [sub]best day of school, ever.[/sub] As to the OP–who the hell knows? I came home one time to find I’d been burglarized. The list of missing items? \*Dog leash \*Bottle of Vodka \*Pregnancy Test \*Big silver bucket Not the TV, or the computer, or the extensive media collection. Nope nope nope. The mind boggles. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/7 "2003-09-19T15:29:27Z")
If it was a radio/electronics geek who stole it, maybe because they wanted a free GPS receiver, or just because it looked like a cool gadget. But my best guess is that someone just saw it sitting there, recognized that it was electronic (and must, therefore, be worth something to someone) and grabbed it. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/8 "2003-09-19T15:38:53Z")
If it was a radio/electronics geek who stole it, maybe because they wanted a free GPS receiver, or just because it looked like a cool gadget. But my best guess is that someone just saw it sitting there, recognized that it was electronic (and must, therefore, be worth something to someone) and grabbed it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/9 "2003-09-19T17:08:40Z")
Easy. He wanted the person who owned it to get busted for hanging around the seedy side of town. * * * _SCREW_ the land of “Milk and Honey”! I want Beer and Beef Jerky! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/10 "2003-09-19T21:11:14Z")
And here I click on the thread all hoping it was going to be about [this](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/09/19/offbeat.toothbrush.ap/index.html)… ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/11 "2003-09-19T21:20:51Z")
A GPS tracker? Gee, I wonder how they caught him? ---
**Author:** ![sultana\_of\_slash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@sultana\_of\_slash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sultana_of_slash)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/12 "2003-09-19T22:45:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptBushido \* > \*\*A GPS tracker? > > Gee, I wonder how they caught him? \*\* -?//# snorfle @#$%! Once when we were getting ready to open an aikido dojo, we went and bought 180 reject tires from a tire place that was going to mash them into shreds. We stacked them all over the building to get ready to build the mat over them, and went home to get cold beer. The next day, we saw by the pried-open metal door on the back of our place, we’d had a robbery. The robbers evidently thought they were going to get 180 brand-new truck-sized whitewall tires. On discovering that every one of them had been slashed by the reject company, they tumbled a few of the stacks, stole what they could find, and went home. They got our phone answering machine and some cleaning supplies. It cost $200 to fix the pried-open metal door. I’ve always enjoyed envisioning the robber coming home to his significant other: (holds out loot) “For You, Darling, Because I Love You! A Half-Full Bottle of Mr. Clean!” ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/13 "2003-09-19T22:54:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by belladonna \* > \*\*Why, to haul over the roof of the high school and drop into the courtyard of course! [sub]best day of school, ever.[/sub] > > As to the OP–who the hell knows? I came home one time to find I’d been burglarized. The list of missing items? > \*Dog leash > \*Bottle of Vodka > \*Pregnancy Test > \*Big silver bucket > > Not the TV, or the computer, or the extensive media collection. Nope nope nope. The mind boggles. \*\* Sorry. It was a crime of passion. Do you want the bucket and the leash back? ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/14 "2003-09-19T23:02:21Z")
He probably stole it and wanted the police to buy it back from him! ---
**Author:** ![JaxBeachBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@JaxBeachBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaxBeachBoy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/15 "2003-09-20T03:23:15Z")
He didnt know what it was… you’re not really dealing with the sharpest knife in the drawer, obviously… just thought it looked expensive and figured he could sell it. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Frankenbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenbear)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/16 "2003-09-20T03:28:53Z")
Thanks for all of the responses. I’m trying to imagine the expression on the guy’s face when the police tracked him down. It had to have been an amusing moment. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/17 "2003-09-20T06:47:01Z")
That’s pretty damn funny. Thanks for sharing~!!! ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/18 "2003-09-20T10:42:27Z")
lol. Stealing a tracking device? LAME. Not as lame as the guy who stale my friend’s inhaler for her asthma at a music festival though. ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/19 "2003-09-20T12:24:21Z")
How about the guy that stole 12 pair of my ex girlfriends size 14 underwear? He was caught by the police RETURNING them because “they didn’t fit the wife…” ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561/20 "2003-09-20T12:25:24Z")
FTR, the guy stole them off the clothes line behind our house. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-steal-this/202561.md?page=2)