Gr Hydro Store Robberies

[nsmn8r]

Some POS broke into our local store on Sunday morning and took a bunch of Lumateks.

 

The silly billy posted an ad on Craigslist. I went and visited him this morning and after a short conversation, he was very sorry for what he'd done and gave me all the stuff back. He also gave me a bunch of stuff that he'd stolen from other stores. I turned it in to the Kent County Sherriff's Dept. If you know whose stuff this is, please let them know that Kent Count Sherriff Dept has it under case number 50137-11.

 

Here's the ad.

 

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/grd/2589349900.html

[Friendofphotons]

Were charges filed against the thief?

[tutman2006]

Call me for an alarm. I have referances. such as med grow, big daddys etc.

 

P.M. me i don't leave my info online.

[nsmn8r]

Call me for an alarm. I have referances. such as med grow, big daddys etc.

 

P.M. me i don't leave my info online.

 

 

Thanks man. I already had an alarm. It took 5 minutes to get there though. He was only in the store for 90 seconds.

 

I just bought a bars for the windows and folding security gates for the doors. Next time they'll have to work for it. Hopefully I can slow the next one down enough to catch them in the act next time.

 

Cops picked this guy up last night. He's going to be arraigned tomorrow.

 

 

His name is Tom Hathaway and he's from the NE side of GR.

[1337Gr33n]

great work,nsmn8r! way to out those predators!

[Northern Lab]

Was this @ Growco?

[Guest Medicinal Patient]

What a spineless pos. Good Job bustin and outing this punk. Keep us posted on how this turns out.

 

 

Inmate Charges

Name: THOMAS ANDREW HATHAWAY

DOB: 07/27/1984

Sex: MALE

Race: WHITE

Book #: 1118268

FBI #:

SID #:

Booking Date: 09/11/2011

Facility: MAIN JAIL

Visitation Requirements: Appointments must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance. Call (616) 632-6383 any day, 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. to schedule or in person at the Kent County Correctional Facility Visiting/Information Desk. Visitation Details.

Arresting Agency: KENT COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

Arrest Report #: 1150137

Expected

Release Date:

Charge #: 1

Charge Description: B & E - BLDG W/ INTENT

District Court: 63RD DISTRICT COURT

District Court Case #:

D114211FY

Circuit Court:

Circuit Court Case #:

Bond: $ 50000.00

Type of Bond: CASH OR SURETY BOND

Charge Disposition:

PRETRIAL

Charge Disposition Date:

09/12/2011

Fines:

$ 0.00

 

https://www.accesskent.com/InmateLookup/showDetail.do?bookNo=1118268

[Brodel]

To the OP.. this is an awesome thread/story I have shared with some of my friends/family. Congrats on getting your inventory back!

[nsmn8r]

Thanks guys! I'm glad we got this guy off the street. The scariest part of it was that he wanted to come to my house to "make sure they work".

 

I'm pretty sure he was planning on coming back in 10 or 12 weeks to rip me off again!

 

A smash and grab at a business is one thing, but this guy was going to break into a home with kids in it. I'm betting it was only a matter of time before someone would have gotten hurt. I wonder how many people actually fell for that and brought this guy to their room?

 

I got subpoenaed for his court date on the 29th.

 

This will be my first time in court where they didn't refer to me as "The Defendant"

 

Actually, I might still get a chance to be the defendant after all. The thief is telling the cops that I abducted him and threatened him... Doesn't sound like too big a deal. The cop I talked to said he gets accused of worse than that all the time.

 

They asked me to write a detailed account of what happened. It's long and boring, but I'll post it below in case anyone is interested.

[nsmn8r]

Detective Kelly,

 

Below is my account of the events surrounding the robbery of my store and the recovery of my stolen property.

 

At approximately 3:30 AM on 9/5/2011, I received a call from my alarm company stating that there was an alarm going off at my store. During the previous week we had a couple of false alarms at this location so I advised security not to call the police and that I would drive down and check on it.

When I arrived I noticed that the front window was broken. I immediately called 911 and began to review the security camera videos. Deputy E. Smith arrived shortly after and took a report.

 

The security camera videos showed a fat white male approximately 6'2 and 230lbs with an arm band tattoo on his right bicep wearing a ski mask and carrying an ax. The videos showed him loading up a large plastic tub with Lumatek Digital Ballasts. As he was dragging the tub to the door, his mask snagged on a box and came off his head.

 

On 9/7/11 we found a posting on Craigslist advertising digital ballasts identical to the ones stolen. They were advertised as "New Never Opened" and priced below what I pay for them at wholesale cost.

 

That evening, my wife sent an email inquiring about the ballasts.

 

At approximately 9AM on 9/8/11, I called the number on the Craigslist ad and spoke to a person who identified himself as "Tom". He told me that his father owned a gardening store that went out of business. He said he had several ballasts available and could meet me at 11AM. We agreed to meet at the Walgreen's near the corner of 44th St. and Division Ave. where I already had plans to meet our store's internet marketing manager, Andre.

 

On my way to the meeting, my friend Matt called. I explained the situation and he offered to ride along. I brought enough money with me to purchase the equipment in the event that the seller was legitimate or I felt it was unsafe to expose myself as the business owner who was robbed.

 

Matt and I arrived early at the planned meeting site and waited for Tom. At 11:00AM he called my cell phone to inform me that he was going to be there in 10 minutes and would be driving a gold Buick.

 

When Tom arrived, he parked in a space facing the gas station and we pulled up near him. When he got out of the car we both recognized him as the person in the video.

 

We introduced ourselves and he opened the rear driver's side door of his car and showed me the equipment. I immediately knew 3 of the ballasts were stolen from me because our price tags were still on the boxes. The other 3 had green price tags and were the wrong size. I told Tom that I agreed to his price and would buy the ballasts as I began loading them into our van. While we were loading the equipment, Tom came up to me and handed me his Driver's License, Medicaid Card, and a bag of prescription pills. He said he had to run to another appointment, but he wanted me to give him the cash and take his personal items as collateral until I was satisfied that the ballasts worked. He would go to his appointment and come to my house to pick up his stuff when he was finished. I put the cards in my pocket and told him he could keep his pills.

 

Once all of the equipment was in our vehicle, Matt pulled the car into a spot across the parking lot. As Matt moved the car, I asked Tom, "So how do you want to handle this?". "Handle what?" he replied. I said, "Do you want me to call the police now or would you rather just give me back the rest of the stuff you stole from my store plus $1000 to cover the damage to the building and the time I wasted on this?".

 

Before he could deny it, I explained to him that I had video of him in my store when his mask came off. He immediately became very apologetic and offered to take us to where the rest of my equipment was stored. Andre offered to drive. Tom sat in front and Matt and I sat in the rear seats. Tom directed Andre to a house about 15 minutes away on the North East side of GR. During the ride there, I used my cell phone to take a picture of his driver's license.

 

When we arrived, Tom instructed Andre to park in the driveway next door and asked that I come in alone while Matt and Andre waited in the car. We decided it would be better if we all went so all 4 of us exited the car and followed Tom to the back door of the house. I followed Tom inside while Matt and Andre waited by the door. Tom grabbed his keys and led me back outside to the garage. He unlocked the door and let us in. Directly in front of the door was the plastic tub from the video. The ax laid up against the wall. The tub contained three more ballasts from my store as well as several others that weren't mine along with a CO2 system and a couple of meters.

 

Tom asked if I would consider taking these other ballasts instead of the $1000 he owed me and calling it even. I agreed and we loaded the tub with all the equipment into Andre's truck.

 

We then gave Tom a ride back to his car. We went back to the store and immediately called the number that Deputy E. Smith gave us and told them what had transpired. Deputy Burquist arrived at the store soon after and we gave him the equipment that didn't belong to us along with a copy of Tom's Driver's License.

 

Later that afternoon, my wife received an email reply from Tom. He stated that he still had several ballasts for sale and would be available to meet up the next day. We forwarded all of his emails to Deputy Burquist.

 

At approximately 10:00 PM that night, Tom sent me a text message that said "What's your email address? You're going to want to see this."

I called him to see what it was and he told me that it was a page from a law book that talks about kidnapping and abduction. He said he was going to have me arrested for kidnapping him if I called the police or told anyone about him ripping me off. He told me that he knows the law because he is going to law school and that I would definitely go to jail. I replied, "tinkle off you fat retard. The only thing worse than a thief is a liar.." He hung up on me before I could go any further and that was the last I heard from him.

 

I hope you catch this turd. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. I saved copies of the video on a flash drive at the store for you. Feel free to stop by and pick it up when you're in the area.

 

Sincerely,

[Guest thequietone]

:goodjob: :goodjob:

[+EdwardGlen]

[Ten4GoodBuddys]

lol pwned.

 

Excellent story

[Guest Medicinal Patient]

You woulda think ol dude woulda been scared and stopped his criminal behavior dead in its tracks after the hydro owner encounter. Looks like he kept up his thieving ways until the very end. That encounter with you hydro fellas happened 3 blocks from me. Andres a good dude.

 

 

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/grand_rapids/Man-arrested-for-thefts-in-3-counties

 

Man arrested for thefts in 3 counties

Found at trunk filled with stolen video games

 

Updated: Thursday, 15 Sep 2011, 5:50 PM EDT

Published : Thursday, 15 Sep 2011, 5:50 PM EDT

 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A man who allegedly burglarized several businesses is in police custody, according to a statement from the Kent County Sheriff's Department.

 

Police arrested Thomas Andrew Hathaway while he sat at the trunk of his car at his residence on the northwest side of Grand Rapids.

 

He was sorting hundreds of video games that filled the trunk when police arrested him.

 

He was charged with Breaking and Entering a building.

 

Detectives are in the process of sorting through the stolen property to identify victims and return the stolen items.

 

The burglaries occurred in three counties: Kent, Ottawa, and Muskegon over the past several weeks.

 

The businesses were varied, ranging from a hydroponics store to computer repair and video rental stores.

 

Ottawa County officials say that the burglaries in their county happened in Jenison at Radio Shack and Family Video.