Crime: Burglary
Victim: James Crowell
Date: Thursday, Sept. 20
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: 6000 block of Swiss
Christian DVDs aren’t big pawnshop items.
Anyone entering a pawnshop with a box of DVDs on such topics as Christ’s pacifist philosophy and the Book of Job probably wouldn’t be greeted with a wad of greenbacks. That sort of thing isn’t really prime pawnshop material. And in our neighborhood, a burglar may have recently learned this lesson.
James Crowell hasn’t had much luck in the past few weeks. First, a boom box and a leaf blower were stolen from his garage. Then his VCR, DVD player, and collection of DVDs — all Christian-themed except for some “I Love Lucy” and “Beverly Hillbillies” episodes — were taken.
“I understood why they’d take the VCR and stuff, but it was strange they left the big TV there,” Crowell says. “It was worth more, obviously. And who knows why they wanted my Christian DVDs.”
Days later, burglars helped alleviate some of Crowell’s confusion, returning to take the big screen TV they’d left behind.
“There was no deadbolt on my door, so I guess they just decided they could just come back with another person to carry the heavier stuff,” Crowell says.
“I sure wish I knew who it was who did this,” he adds ominously.
Crowell may be somewhat elderly, but he is no stranger to vigilante justice. When his leaf blower and boom box were jacked from his garage, Crowell strongly suspected a yardman who worked nearby and decided to confront him. He called the yardman to his house, and also telephoned a friend of his, whom he asked to impersonate a police officer. He then told the yardman, “Here, this phone call’s for you. It’s the police.”
“His eyes got as big as half-dollars, let me tell you,” says Crowell. His friend told the yardman there were witnesses to his stealing the property, and that he could return it or get arrested. The yardman kept to his story, saying he had no idea what the fake policeman was talking about, but Crowell says he ended up coughing up $450 out of fear.
Lt. Michael Woodberry says this course of action is strongly frowned upon.
“We don’t recommend people take law into own hands. This is something we need to do, and we’re trained to do,” Woodberry says. “To actually invite the suspect into his house to ambush him, that’s just not wise. People shouldn’t put themselves in harm’s way like that.”
Crowell says he suspects most of his items have ended up in pawnshops, never to be seen again. As for his Christian DVDs, he holds out hope that they may be serving a new, higher purpose. Maybe the burglar is using them to get saved, he says.
