theft

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US to Return $10M Stolen Art Stash to Italy

'Treasure trove' of looted antiques uncovered in Chicago home

(Newser) - A huge stash of stolen artifacts found in a Chicago home will be returned to Italy by US authorities, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The artifacts—including letters written by kings and popes, and Etruscan works thousands of years old—were discovered by the homeowner's heirs after his death, and are...

Thug Swipes Bacon Phone Packed With Celeb Contacts

(Newser) - A brazen Manhattan subway thug swiped actor Kevin Bacon's Blackberry, likely packed with phone numbers of his A-list celebrity pals, reports the New York Post. Bacon gave chase, but the thief maneuvered through the crowd at a midtown subway station to freedom. Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, are no...

Beekeepers Stung by Rustlers

High price of honey motivates thieves to cart off bees by the million

(Newser) - A spate of thefts has rocked Britain's once close-knit beekeeping community, the Independent reports. Many farmers have lost hives, sometimes up to 100 in one theft, worth many thousands of dollars. A shortage of honey after massive bee die-offs over two harsh winters has made bees valuable enough to be...

Couple Vanishes After $6M Bank Deposit Error

(Newser) - Police are searching for a New Zealand couple who disappeared after withdrawing a fortune mistakenly credited by their bank to their account. Westpac Bank blamed the $6 million deposit blunder on "human error," and executives want the money back. Unlike the "Bank Error In Your Favor" Monopoly...

Texas Cop Fired for Overkill Investigation

Sheriff's lieutenant shut down car wash over wife's missing $16

(Newser) - A Texas sheriff’s lieutenant has been fired for using police resources to investigate the alleged theft of $16 from his wife at a local car wash, the Houston Chronicle reports. Louis Guthrie and a group of deputies taped off the establishment for an hour to question employees. “This...

How to Retrieve a Stolen Laptop
 How to Retrieve 
 a Stolen Laptop 
glossies

How to Retrieve a Stolen Laptop

(Newser) - When a burglar stole Joshua Alston’s laptop, there wasn’t much the police could do. But the Newsweek writer realized there was something he could do. Alston had installed a program on the laptop that allowed him to access it remotely. He had never used it all that much...

Dazed Astor Didn't Recognize Jesse Jackson: Witness

Her son also convinced her she was going broke

(Newser) - A decade before her death, Brooke Astor was so out of it that she couldn’t recognize Jesse Jackson, a prosecution witness testified today in the fraud trial against Astor’s son, the New York Daily News reports. Anthony Marshall’s defense rides on his mother’s mental state, with...

Driver Clings to Stolen Truck in 70-Mile Cop Chase

(Newser) - A driver leaped onto his stolen truck as it pulled out of Georgia parking lot and held on for a 70-mile high-speed cop chase, reports CNN. The driver called police from his cell phone from the truck, and clung to the rig as the thief gunned it. The getaway was...

Son 'Manhandled Astor to Change Will': Prosecutor

Anthony Marshall exploited mom's dementia to funnel fortune to him, says prosecutor.

(Newser) - Brooke Astor's son "dragged" his frail mom from her nurse's arms to a closed-door meeting about her will, which was immediately changed in his favor, according to the prosecutor at the heir's  fraud and grand larceny trial yesterday in New York. Anthony Marshall exploited his vulnerable mother's dementia to...

Va. Repairman Swiped $170K From Meters

William Fell made off with a sixth of city's total meter revenue

(Newser) - A repairman stole $170,000 in coins from parking meters in Alexandria, Va., during the past 12 months, the Washington Post reports. William Fell, 61, looted meters in the early hours of the morning before his maintenance shifts, police say. Wary of depositing his ill-gotten gains, Fell kept the coins...

Facebook Helps Nab Real-World Thief

(Newser) - Anyone questioning the utility of Facebook should talk to Carla Pillo Mote. The Philadelphia advertising exec used the social networking site to identify and locate the man who drunkenly absconded with her company computer, wallet, and tax forms well before the police could make a move, reports Mediabistro's Agency Spy...

Madoff Victims Trustee Eyes Brother's Bucks

New focus on Peter as trustee seeks to compensate swindle victims

(Newser) - A federal court official may seek to claw back any funds transferred by Bernard Madoff's swindle company to his brother, reports the New York Post. The new focus on Madoff's sibling, an officer in his firm, was revealed in a letter to an attorney representing a New York law student....

Why Thieves Don't Care About Your Car Stereo

New devices can't be transferred between cars

(Newser) - More than a million car stereos were stolen in 1994, but in the past 15 years, yearly thefts have plummeted by more than half, NPR reports. Why? Automakers now install good stereos from the start, and “there's no market for factory radios because they normally don't fit in any...

Grandmother: Casey Stole $45K From Anthonys

(Newser) - Casey Anthony’s grandmother alleges that the murder suspect may have stolen up to $45,000 from her parents, the Orlando Sentinel reports. “I don’t think she blowed it all at once, but what was she doing all this time?” Shirley Plesea told investigators in August, according to...

840-Pound Brazilian Emerald Lands in Court

Detectives puzzle over ownership of 840-pound Brazilian gem

(Newser) - A colossal emerald valued at almost $400 million is under lock and key in Los Angeles County while detectives try to figure out who owns it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Police managed to track down the 840-pound Bahia emerald after it was reported stolen last fall, but they also...

Germans Exalt Grocery Clerk Sacked Over $2

She's become a symbol of recession-time class struggles

(Newser) - A grocery clerk fired from her job of 31 years after allegedly stealing $1.66 has turned into a recession-time hero in Germany. While financial fat cats walk away with billions despite triggering a worldwide economic crisis, the sacking of a 50-year-old mother seems unfair, her supporters tell Der Spiegel....

To Combat Digital Piracy, Try Stealing

Composer pitches real-world thievery to help raise awareness

(Newser) - A Hollywood composer wants you to stop illegally downloading music, and he's willing to put his freedom in jeopardy to make his point. Because the public doesn't seem to equate swapping digital files with stealing, Richard Gibbs is pushing for people to swipe other products in a nationwide "day...

Twitterers Help Lance Get His Bike Back

Twitter, Facebook kept bike in the news

(Newser) - Turns out celebs can use Twitter for more than just ranting against loud neighbors: Lance Armstrong used social networking sites to get his bike back, the Telegraph reports. He issued an “APB” to his 140,000 Twitter followers, and on Facebook, a group popped up named “1 Million...

Horse Tail Thieves Rile Colo. Ranchers

Who's stealing horses' fly swatters—and why?

(Newser) - Angry horse owners are bridling at bizarre new attacks on their four-hoofed friends, reports the Los Angeles Times: tail theft. One Colorado rancher woke up recently to find someone had chopped off the long flaxen tails of all of his Belgian draft horses. "It makes me so mad,"...

Lance's Custom Bike Ripped Off

Champ offers reward via Twitter

(Newser) - Thieves made off with Lance Armstrong’s customized time trial bike and the bikes of three teammates last night, VeloNews reports. "There is only one like it in the world therefore hard to pawn it off,” Armstrong wrote on his Twitter account with a photo of the Trek...

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