Well the Stolen C&O 614 Made it back home.

glad your engine was returned, but saddened by the thought of a thief amongst us.

Any time you publicly accuse someone of a crime, you stand a chance of being sued for defamation.  That is not new; it has been the law for hundreds of years.  Truth is an absolute defense; if you can prove the thief did it, the defamation suit goes away, and then you can sue the thief for trespass to chattels.

But if you offer " no repercussions if the thing is returned" then you are sort of bound by your offer, aren't you?

I am glad you solved the mystery.

bob2 is correct.  The police told you wrong.  In most jurisdictions and under common law, to constitute defamation, a claim must generally be false.  Truth is a defense to defamation.

Good news......we don't need jerks like that in the hobby.....

Peter

I'm so glad you have your engine back.  And it must be heartwarming to know that fellow OGR Forumites stepped up to help.

Glad you received your engine, Harry!

AG.

Great news Harry! I now believe that 99.99% of this forum are the greatest people in this wonderful hobby.

Brad

Yes I do thank everyone that sent me pic and videos.

Yes we do have a great bunch of people on this forum for help and support.

 with out that I don't think we would of had any luck getting it back.

 Now I need to find a new set of C&O decals to redo tender.

Harry, I commend you for leadership you have shown in this instance. 

When I relayed what happened (the theft) to my 14 year old grandson, he was very disappointed. He had a great deal of fun running his locomotives on the layout that day and he enjoyed talking with everyone. We talked about how one person doing something like this affected everyone there, but especially Harry, who opened his home so others, including people he never met, could enjoy the fun and thrill of running their own trains on the layout, and enjoy the fellowship of other collectors and operators.

When I told him that Harry had found out who it was by everyone sharing pictures and videos, he of course said I hope they arrest the guy and put him in jail. Then I explained that Harry was offering a "no questions asked return" instead of prosecution. He asked me why would he do that if he knows who did it? We talked about giving second chances and taking the higher road. 

He he will be very happy to hear the loco has been returned.

In this case, let us all hope that the person who took this locomotive recognizes Harry's generosity, and uses this opportunity to their advantage. 

If he is a TCA member make sure you file a complaint and have him thrown out on his %$#!  Then when they post his membership revocation we will know who this POS is.  Unless this person has some sort of mental disability, which I would be more forgiving of, he should be treated with the same lack of respect.  I respect your decision but someone like this has most likely done this before and will again.  One can only hope the next time he tries this justice is served immediately.  I am glad you got your train back.  A lesson learned for all of us for sure.  BigRail

Great news. Hopefully you can get that tender fixed as good as Wonder if this is something Scott Mann could help you with.

When Harry called me to let me know it was back, I had a big smile, I'm really happy that it was returned.  Yes, it does suck that it was defaced, but that's not nearly as bad as never seeing it again!  I know that Harry can paint it good as new, so finding the right decals is the real challenge.

Hi there Lionel Grandpa

 I have liked it when you and your grandson Harry were here.

 He is a good kid and I am glade that you had sat and talked to him about my decision on how I handled it.

 I do know it was a hard decision to make.

 THANK YOU FOR EXPLANING TO HIM and understanding my decision.

   Some times that just makes you a better person.  

We hope to see you at our next open house.

 THANK YOU!!!

We need to get those surveillance camera installed.

Congratulations!

I wonder why they stripped the tender?

Harry, I am glad the locomotive has been returned and only has superficial damage.  I was impressed how you handled the situation.  I was very pleased to be a guest of you and the O Gaugers that day.  It was well worth the 6 1/2 hour trip To meet you and the whole group.  While the theft will remain in all our memories for the rest of our lives, the good time I had will always overshadow the unfortunate theft!  I hope all of us can agree on that.

Lionel grandpa,

I am glad you were able to make this a teaching moment for your grandson!  I was glad to meet you and him that day!  I said earlier just what you said, that I hope this is a learning event in the the thief's life, and he never does such a thing again.  I hope he realizes how fortunate he is.

If you want to have a smile-think of the anxiety, surprise and cold sweat this guy went through when he found out he was on "candid camera".  I will give him a small bit of credit for not trashing or destroying the loco and returning it. And the deal was "No questions", I think. The justice system wouldn't have treated him harshly. The biggest penalty would have been his legal fees.

Best news in a long time!! The good folks on here are amazing. Just think if they hadn't all pulled together and offered up all the photos and videos. 

I hope you have success in repainting the tender and even more success in returning to having open houses for all the good folks if you are so inclined. You sure seem to have brought a lot of happiness to the guys in your area.

So Harry..... email me.  I'm not afraid of defamation.  Not too much they can say about me that hasn't already been said (use to be in drug enforcement).  

So glad you got it back and I'm sorry you had to have your trust in someone rattled.  I am so glad the video and pictures told you the story that needed to be told.  You know, you don't have to tell us who supposedly did something.  You should tell us who you don't like anymore though!  

Harry,

    Glad you got the engine back. Did the thief have any explanation for his/hers actions? For the life of me I cannot understand what he hoped to do with the engine. If he took it for his own use he could never take it out of his house as someone would recognize it. Sell it? Put it on eBay? Sure way to get caught. Now he has to worry that he lost a hobby and a forum too. Just do not understand his thinking.

JohnB

Harry I am very  happy you got the engine back.

You should be able to post pictures as long as you do not say or accuse anybody.

Hate to say but there's a flaw in your logic and definition of truth. In the legal sense truth is not what an individual thinks or says but what is declared to be truth by a judge or jury in a court of law. Since this did not go to court, there was no legal decision regarding what was truth but rather only unproven allegations. Harry took the high road, which likely was realistically the only course he could have taken to get his loco back. His local  police department would not have had the time, resources or manpower to gather all the pics and video Harry had forwarded to him without Harry going public. If he hadn't posted on this forum he might never have received the "evidence" enabling him to figure out who the alleged perpetrator was. (Maybe he even received the pics needed to discern who stole the loco from someone who attended the open house that he didn't even know and therefore wouldn't have known where to locate that person in a timely fashion. And as time dragged on trying to identify the culprit, it would have given that sticky fingered individual ample time to dispose of the evidence (loco) before the police could obtain a search warrant for it.

Most important is the outcome for Harry and his realization he really did the only thing he could in that circumstance for any possibility of getting back his engine. I'm certain Harry is happier with having the engine than possibly eventually gaining a conviction but losing his engine forever. 

To the "defendant": 

Think hard about getting some help, to really understand why you would do this to yourself.

Bravo for making a smart choice.

Now its fun time, sorry you've earned it.

Open this in a new window to cue the reading music folks

"And you can take that to da bank!"

Others were there too, and may have this figured out already too. "And dats da name of dat tune". 

 Good luck with that. I imagine a bunch of train nuts could get pretty "mid-evil" with train transformer or two  Ha!

  Trashing would not have been within the spirit of this deal.

Prosecution would have been the outcome. In fact the prosecution could still take place. But without Harry breaking his word to co-operate fully, its success is doubtful. 

The explanation is there plain as day. To change it to an unrecognizable train.

"To cover up." On his shelf, or another's as a point, is mute.

Our horror story over, the villain creeps away into the shadows as we wonder will he tread a new path. And of course our hero detective escapes shaken, not stirred.

Congratulations Harry.

Next time tell us the story about the girl tied to the rails ok......don't we wish

When I read the initial thread, the story aroused sadness for you Harry, then anger against the perp, and then I was left with a sick feeling about the whole matter.  Glad you got the engine back and glad you got the support of friends on the forum.  Hope you will get back into the regular swing of things soon and put the matter behind you. 

As like many others, I was pleased to learn the locomotive was returned albeit with some damage to the tender.  

You did the right thing and showed everyone just how much of a man you are by making an offer to the thief that would allow him to save face and avoid public humiliation.   

A great suggestion was made to contact Scott Mann to see if he could help you out. 

After all he'd have access to the right paint and needed decals for the tender.

Keep up the good work and try to put this episode behind you.

You are indeed a very lucky man to have so many personnel supporters.

Harry, I am very, very happy to hear that you got the locomotive back. You handled the situation with class. I hope the person that did it will use the opportunity you gave them to take stock of himself and make some changes in their life.

Why not contact LBR Enterprises for the decals? They are a forum sponsor and I believe they will make custom decals. I have had one transaction with LBR and I rate them 5 Stars/Excellent.

I won't give the thief credit for not trashing Harry's engine or even for having some pangs of conscience that made him return it. Obviously he was in the process of altering the appearance of the engine, and he only returned it because he knew he'd been ID'ed and Harry gave him the option of returning it without risk of prosecution. Thieves are among the worst kind of vermin, in the model RR community as well as the general public. Harry is a decent person and more charitable than this old Navy Chief. I would have had the guy's a** in jail. And I venture to say more of you gents would have done the same than what your comments here would suggest.  

You guys would have enjoyed Ted Maurer throwing a thief out of his auction house by the collar!!!  AND NEVER COME BACK were his final words!  Total theft was $5 sheet of timetable page!!!

Someone let the story get out to a newspaper, they'll surely publish the persons name, they do it all the time.

Glad you got your engine back Harry. This is bittersweet news. It's good that you got your engine back and bad that the engine was not in it's original condition and that the person responsible was not punished. Don't let this effect you too much. Remember, most people are not like the one who stole your engine. I just hope he reads the forum and the large outpour of comments taught him something. 

I imagine that Harry would like to put this behind him and move on with his life and hobby. Not that he will forget but he knows he has a lot of friends. As for the perp, he sure must have been feeling the heat of the posse looking for him so he reads the forum or was tipped off. What he does in the future is up to him.

We need to get those surveillance camera installed.

And don't forget Game cameras as well! Cabella's has one that is night vision equipped up to 100'. They are great for perimeter monitoring where having wires to camera is too expensive or time consuming.

Publish a list of people that were attending your open house who DID NOT steal the engine.

Very glad your loco is back.....

And yes the sad part is that you telling the truth is borderline illegal!!

But that is the state of this country right now. NO ONE wants the truth if it goes against their thinking.

I understand not posting here.....but libel if you told someone???? Please.... 

X-Ray Machines, Metal Detectors,GPS ID Tags and Instructional Material on Full Body Searches are on order and bids are going out on the 5 Million Gigawatt Taser System.

Great that you got it back Harry, Ben and I made mention of it at our Monthly Club Meeting last night.

I will not state any further my feelings towards the individual, but in my humble opinion, Harry could and/or should not be held responsible for defaming his reputation as he has done that to himself!

So, sue yourself!

Great Idea! LOL

Harry  Very glad to hear your engine made its way back  I think we should still pay nim a visit and get a decals worth

Don't publish anything. Remember your original promise.

Harry, i'm glad your engine has been returned, albeit a little worse for wear. Your taking the high road was obviously the right course of action.