UPDATE Need help keeping an eye out for stolen items

One of the guys in our group had his trailer full of rocket gear stolen from his fenced in yard. I know folks at TRF frequent EBay and/or Craigslist and have an eye for when something’s not right with rocket listings.

Here’s a list of items that were in the trailer:

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There was a complete set of aerotech cases in 29, 38 and 54mm sizes plus a few 54 and 98 mm cases. Many of the Aerotech cases have my name and TRA # engraved on them.

There was a complete set of cesaroni 38mm cases and a few 54 mm cases.

There were probably 20 chutes in up to 20' size

lots of altimeters, trackers

1515 and 1010 rails

a few pads.

tools, Lipo batteries and chargers...

There were probably 5 or 6 rockets in there from 38mm up to 10" diameters.
**

If you see any of these being listed by someone in So Cal who doesn’t know what they’re doing, could you let us know? Any help would be appreciated.

I'm nowhere near California but you might want to detail what the monogram is on the motor casings or at least the TRA number. If a motor is depicted on ebay and the monogram or TRA number is shown in a picture, BINGO, would help ID as stolen goods
and a person could post the info or PM you here. Rockets? Post some pictures if you got them.
Kurt

It's almost a guarantee at least some of the stuff will turn up on ebay..
I always keep my eyes open..
I'll be lookin out..
This is such a shame..
The more detailed your description here,,,
The more likely someone will see an item from the trailer..

Teddy

Hate thieves! I've not lost anything rocketry related to thievery, but I've had a home broken into. I just wished I had caught them with a little Louisville Slugger in my hand and my pistol on my hip :-\

Man! Getting robbed is the worst!
My Home was broken into and Items taken in December of 2013.
I now have cameras and other security measures in place.
I was a complacent fool before that happened. You just think to yourself, "That would never happen to me." Until it happens.

I hope the scumbags that took the stuff end up getting what they deserve.
Maybe like most of todays worthless youth, they are tech/net savvy and they happen upon this thread.
Might be good to maintain some OPSEC here in this thread.
Avoid using Keywords, or delete the thread entirely and ask to distribute a mass "Be on the lookout for PM" to all members with a substantial post count or at least join dates earlier than the theft occurred.
Odds are they are not looking to start their own NAR Club. Sadly enough, they may have targeted these Items specifically for nefarious purposes.
If I was a terrorist that's what I'de do. Why get certified and buy all of your own Level 3 Motors?
I hope they catch whoever did it anyway.

They likely thought they were grabbing a construction trailer or something. It might turn up on ebay, but I'm betting they'll toss most of it and unload the trailer for cash someplace.


sucks.

Uhhhh, My question is did they empty the trailer or did they drive off with the whole kit 'n kaboodle? In rural areas there is a market for the trailer alone. If that's the case, might just dump what's inside or sell it. Harder to sell "specialist" toys to the lay public. If they were
"nefarious" rocket persons who fly with a club, they'd be smart enough just to use the casings and not show 'em to anybody and if even going to try to fly
the rockets in public, they'd better repaint so's not to be recognized. Kurt

25 years ago I came out to my car and as I walked up to it I could see glass on the driveway. Someone popped my passenger side window and stole my radar detector, and some pocket change in the ashtray. I wished I left the door unlocked as the damage was more than the items stolen and I couldn't even report the stolen radar detector as it was illegal at that time, likely still is, I have not checked.

Bottom line, thieves have no concern for the implications of their actions, they simply care about themselves...sadly this is a perfect example.

From personal experience... Stolen trailers in So Cal often end up in Mexico. The contents were likely just in the way.

They stole the whole trailer. As others have said, they most likely wanted the trailer and anything of value in it. Since the contents were specialized, they'll probably just get thrown away.

It sucks. If I had my fleet and launch equipment stolen, only to know it would probably get tossed in some dumpster, I'd be pretty upset. And I've only been doing this and building up items for a few years. The victim is a seasoned vet.

Chances are slim, but you never know. Someone might get greedy and try to cash in on the rocket gear and it might pop up on EBay or Craigslist.

How does insurance handle that? Just curious.

You might also try local salvage yards. If it's a smart thief, he will just turn the cases and such for scrap if they are identifiable by markings.
Distribute pics if you can.
Unless this was a pre organized theft, they were probably just after the trailer for some reason, like to move.
This is one of the draw backs of permanent plates for trailers IMHO.
I wish you the very best of luck recovering you loss, no one deserves such invasion.

Woody's Workshop said:

If it's a smart thief,

Click to expand...

Many thieves are NOT smart

We had an event at work where someone started stealing equipment
Part of tracking it down was finding the items on ebay with our property tags clearly showing on the equipment

les said:

Many thieves are NOT smart. . .

Click to expand...

No kidding.

Many, many Moons ago, back when I lived in SoCal, a box trailer belonging to a high end bicycle shop/club was stolen.

The trailer, worth about $500 tops, was never recovered. The bicycles that were being hauled in the trailer, worth well over $20,000 were found lying in a ditch not far from the point of theft.

Similar experience here.

Many moons ago, a thief got into my van and took a magazine of old cassette tapes, (that he decided he didn't like, because they were found in the neighbor's shrubs,) and the owner's manual, which he probably thought was a check book.

But he left the $1800 Mizuno golf clubs. Go figure. :rofl:

cherokeej said:

Similar experience here.

Many moons ago, a thief got into my van and took a magazine of old cassette tapes, (that he decided he didn't like, because they were found in the neighbor's shrubs,) and the owner's manual, which he probably thought was a check book.

But he left the $1800 Mizuno golf clubs. Go figure. :rofl:

Click to expand...

My word ... you can afford rocketry and golf? :y:

Bat-mite said:

My word ... you can afford rocketry and golf? :y:

Click to expand...

Used to play... Until I screwed up my back.

Golf...

An ineffectual endeavor to place an insignificant pellet into an obscure hole using completely inadequate tools.

But it sure is fun.

My dad always told me that men played golf to chase the ball around because they didn't like chasing woman anymore.
Ne never played golf.
Personally, I love to play golf. If you yell 4, you can hit people with the ball.
That's much more fun than trying for a little hole in the ground

Woody's Workshop said:

My dad always told me that men played golf to chase the ball around because they didn't like chasing woman anymore.
Ne never played golf.
Personally, I love to play golf. If you yell 4, you can hit people with the ball.
That's much more fun than trying for a little hole in the ground

Click to expand...

Yeah. Chasing women.

And you guys thought a combination of rocketry and golf was expensive.

You give up chasing women and take up golf and HPR to save money.

Golf in book is a form of insanity. You git the ball and it goes in the woods, sand or water. You hit it again and again and expect a different outcome.

Waste of good real estate.

The only good use for Golfballs: https://americancannons.com/

Golf= Cow Pasture Pool

cwbullet said:

Golf in book is a form of insanity. You git the ball and it goes in the woods, sand or water. You hit it again and again and expect a different outcome.

Waste of good real estate.

Click to expand...

Huh Chuck? You launch a rocket and never know where it's going to land unless it's an R/C glider. So you're saying by association that rocketry is insanity too? I think golf, the golfer has more control.:lol::bangpan:

Kurt (I don't golf)

I know a guy who works in "loss management" (theft) for retail. His favorite is shoe stores that only put the left shoe of each style on the show floor. When the only pairs available to get stolen are in the back, it's pretty obvious who's doing the stealing.

Charlie Savoie from AT was nice enough to PM me regarding this and has offered to replace a few cases. I put him in touch with the guy in our group. Thanks Charlie.

***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***

The Sheriffs found the trailer abandoned. Unfortunately, it had been completely emptied except for a few rockets. It was pretty clean, though - looks like they swept it out before high-tailing away with the stuff. Any continued watch out there will be much appreciated.

Holee Cow!

Crooked rocket guys!?? I wouldn't have believed it. I mean how in the world do they think they can sell off this specialist hobby stuff without being noticed? Yeah, if the person or persons hold on to it for some time and sell it off piecemeal might not be noticed.
Still seems pretty stupid to me that someone would steal this stuff for their own consumption. Sad, I feel sorry for the flier who lost it. After experiencing the camaraderie of strangers returning lost rockets to the LSO table at major launches this is discouraging.
(Yeah, I know sometimes rockets "walk off" at major launches but that is the exception. Doubly bad if it was a fliers seemingly successful certification flight. A fellow posted about that experience here too one time.) Kurt

ksaves2 said:

Holee Cow!

Crooked rocket guys!?? I wouldn't have believed it. I mean how in the world do they think they can sell off this specialist hobby stuff without being noticed? Yeah, if the person or persons hold on to it for some time and sell it off piecemeal might not be noticed.
Still seems pretty stupid to me that someone would steal this stuff for their own consumption. Sad, I feel sorry for the flier who lost it. After experiencing the camaraderie of strangers returning lost rockets to the LSO table at major launches this is discouraging.
(Yeah, I know sometimes rockets "walk off" at major launches but that is the exception. Doubly bad if it was a fliers seemingly successful certification flight. A fellow posted about that experience here too one time.) Kurt

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"We've traced the calls. They're coming from the LCO's table!"

Nothing's impossible, but I'd be VERY surprised if it was another rocketeer.

Exactimator said:

"We've traced the calls. They're coming from the LCO's table!"

Nothing's impossible, but I'd be VERY surprised if it was another rocketeer.

Click to expand...

The trailer was probably the real target all along. The thieves probably just dumped the contents, used the trailer to haul some kind of contraband, then swept it out before abandoning it to remove trace evidence.