Please Help Stop A Fountain Pen Thief/fence - Ebay User Dort1463

[Mister John]

Dear Fountain Pen Aficionados,

 

Some of you might recall that my precious fountain pen collection, consisting of about 50 pens, was stolen from my office at UC Berkeley in early June. After continually searching, and others who helped, I have now located an eBay seller who is slowly selling off my collection. His eBay handle is Dort1463. He lists on global eBay markets including US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Spain. His international listings all have the peculiar caveat that he only mails to the US. Most of his auctions are private. His eBay store lists his name as "Daniel O."

 

I do not make accusations lightly, but I'm quite sure these items are from my collection. Of the 16 pens this seller sold, all corresponded to items in my collection. Moreover, his sales included unusual items like a Sheaffer Intrigue Whaleshark with stub nib and a Sailor 1911 red with music nib.

 

If any of you purchased items from this seller (at sumgai prices I might add), could you please be kind enough to contact me and perhaps give me the opportunity to buy back a part of my collection? In addition, if you encounter a listing by this seller, please notify me so I can bid or, better yet, catch this guy.

 

Thanks to all for your continued support as I slowly recover from the trauma of losing my collection. Any suggestions for getting it back are greatly appreciated. I have already contacted the police, but have not contacted eBay. I am hesitant to contact eBay since all they will do is close the seller down thereby killing the ability of the authorities to trace him.

 

Sincerely,

 

John Morgan

Edited August 14, 2014 by Mister John

[Cryptos]

Have you contacted the police and eBay (together) to try and identify and locate this SoB?

(sorry if that is grandmothers and eggs territory, but thought I'd blurt it out anyway)

 

Will keep a keen eye on the 'Bay and see what transpires. If I see or find anything out I will pass on the info.

[Tweel]

I'm glad you found him; I hope you catch him. Notify your local FBI office!

[risingsun]

Great news, John. Let us know how it shakes out.

[setriode]

Very pleased that you have located the culprit. I have followed your sad tale from the begining. Given the almost unique quality of yor collection ot was almost inevitable that the pens would turn up for sale from one location.

 

Well done. Let us hope he can be found.

[esteroids]

Posting your list, and including a police contact number would give me a course of action if I were to see something.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Yes, FBI interstate/international fencing of stolen goods.

[KBeezie]

Did you click the report button and report it as stolen goods? Also contact your local police department with the listing (ebay will have to give up the seller's information if requested by police).

 

I'm glad you found him; I hope you catch him. Notify your local FBI office!

Is it something within FBI jurisdiction?

Edited August 14, 2014 by KBeezie

[alc3261]

Remember that this seller may have bought the collection "in good faith" from the thief. Daniel O may not be aware that these pens were stolen.

[LamyOne]

 

Is it something within FBI jurisdiction?

 

 

YES, it is. I was in a similar situation myself - ALL internet theft and fraud falls under FBI jurisdiction because of the internet's inherent international nature.

 

If Mister John has ANY hope of reclaiming what is left of his collection, he needs to contact his local FBI office IMMEDIATELY!!!

 

Check the blue pages in your local telephone directory or call your local police for the number of the FBI in your area.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited August 14, 2014 by LamyOne

[kenshiro]

I hope this (bleep) gets caught. Will keep an eye out.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Remember that this seller may have bought the collection "in good faith" from the thief. Daniel O may not be aware that these pens were stolen.

 

Possible, but this doesn't mean he has any right to hang onto them, at least following common law principles. It has been a loooong time since I looked into the law formally, and nemo dat quod non habet may have been superseded by some protection for a good-faith buyer.

 

I'd still get as much law enforcement action on it as possible, too. He may not have stolen them, but he might know the name of the guy he got them from.

[MKeith]

 

YES, it is. I was in a similar situation myself - ALL internet theft and fraud falls under FBI jurisdiction because of the internet's inherent international nature.

 

If Mister John has ANY hope of reclaiming what is left of his collection, he needs to contact his local FBI office IMMEDIATELY!!!

 

Check the blue pages in your local telephone directory or call your local police for the number of the FBI in your area.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

 

Yes Lamy One is correct, Sale of stolen goods by electronic means ie. internet, phone, etc. which involves interstate or international commerce violates a couple of Federal laws. The FBI would need a copy of your initital police report. With the FBI, calm persistence is the watchword.

 

This being said, I would recommend you first work with the UC Police on this case. I would be surprised if they don't have an internet crime unit or access to one within other local police. Best of Luck.

Edited August 14, 2014 by MKeith

[zepp]

Concerning the Sheaffer stub, he wrote “the writing tip is missing. everything else is in very good condition.”

 

clearly someone who doesn't know about fountain pens, so i dont think this ebayer bought in 'good faith' from the thief if he doesn't know jack about FPs.

 

I wonder if it is possible to contact people who bought items from him and try to completely ID him (paypal payment to person's name etc)

[Blue_Moon]

Remember that this seller may have bought the collection "in good faith" from the thief. Daniel O may not be aware that these pens were stolen.

 

I agree. Someone may have approached him and told him that he/she received the pens from a relative's estate and didn't want them, or some other excuse. However, the eBay seller needs to be informed that they are stolen. Also, just because an eBay seller doesn't know anything about fountain pens, and is trying to sell them, doesn't make him guilty.

 

I'm not saying this guy's not guilty; I'm just saying, that, based on what we know from this forum, we don't know that he is intentionally selling stolen goods.

[Bo Bo Olson]

No, I've called the cops/FBI???...it's been hours since this post opened.

[Sasha Royale]

Move on this with Ebay and law enforcement ! Multiple felonies are afoot.

[Glenn Atkins]

just based on a quick spin through his sold listings, it looks like only the pen items are private. that leads me to the conclusion that he is not someone who bought them innocently from somebody else. he's trying to cover his tracks.

 

The two or three pen sales that I looked at specifically list the item location as the united states.

 

interesting. good luck catching the bustard.

 

in fact, that whole operation looks like a fence...high ticket electronics...

 

Glenn

Edited August 14, 2014 by GAtkins

[FriedIceCream]

Hey John!

 

I can't imagine what you were feeling when you saw all of this going down on Ebay! I'm sure it felt awful seeing your beloved collection being sold off for cents on the dollar, but at least now you have a lead. I hope the police follow up on it thoroughly! Even if you don't know who the guy is or anything the odds of recovering any of your pens just went way up, as opposed to were the situation stood with no info whatsoever. Also, I understand your line of reasoning for not contacting Ebay about the guy so far, but I really do think you should probably notify them. If nothing else, at least you can stop your collection from becoming scattered all over the country if they were to shut him down, and they would probably be more than cooperative should your local P.D. or the FBI were to contact them. I hope it works out for you friend! Keep us posted.

 

Stay well,

Nick

[lahlahlaw]

Dear Fountain Pen Aficionados,

 

Some of you might recall that my precious fountain pen collection, consisting of about 50 pens, was stolen from my office at UC Berkeley in early June. After continually searching, and others who helped, I have now located an eBay seller who is slowly selling off my collection. His eBay handle is Dort1463. He lists on global eBay markets including US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Spain. His international listings all have the peculiar caveat that he only mails to the US. Most of his auctions are private. His eBay store lists his name as "Daniel O."

 

I do not make accusations lightly, but I'm quite sure these items are from my collection. Of the 16 pens this seller sold, all corresponded to items in my collection. Moreover, his sales included unusual items like a Sheaffer Intrigue Whaleshark with stub nib and a Sailor 1911 red with music nib.

 

If any of you purchased items from this seller (at sumgai prices I might add), could you please be kind enough to contact me and perhaps give me the opportunity to buy back a part of my collection? In addition, if you encounter a listing by this seller, please notify me so I can bid or, better yet, catch this guy.

 

Thanks to all for your continued support as I slowly recover from the trauma of losing my collection. Any suggestions for getting it back are greatly appreciated. I have already contacted the police, but have not contacted eBay. I am hesitant to contact eBay since all they will do is close the seller down thereby killing the ability of the authorities to trace him.

 

Sincerely,

 

John Morgan

What I would do- buy something from him (possibly with someone else's account), this will likely lead you to his address. Once you have that, there's a whole lot you can do, from the police to a Louisville slugger. Odds are that this person lives near you or at least in CA. You would save the police ALOT of legwork by getting a lead of this nature.