My Life: RFI from LEO - Updates

This is an update of my post RFI from LEO. If you haven't done so, I suggest you read the original post before trying to decipher this one.


I don't know the name of the Detective who is handling this case or I'd likely post it.  For now I'm just going to refer to him as Dick, as in Dick the Detective.  Anyway, Dick is being difficult - very non-committal with a lot of passive aggression.  Dick visited Chatelaine's home, listened to the recording on the answering system and provided Chatelaine with some incomplete forms that she would have to fill out before turning the forms in to the Toledo Police Department in Toledo, Ohio and her insurance company.   Dick also told Chatelaine that in order to get the phone records from AT&T a judge would have to sign a subpena which takes a lot of time, and likely the judge wouldn't do it anyway, and besides if the people had a block on the phone line the number wouldn't show up.  So the whole thing is pretty pointless and Dick didn't see any reason to pursue it.  After all, the financial losses were not all that large.

In Ohio this crime is burglary, which is a felony (see 2911.12 [Effective Until 9/30/2011] Burglary).  I'd think Dick would want to bust a felon or three, but evidently he doesn't much care.  No finger prints have been taken (that I'm aware of), but some mention was made in passing about similar crimes then quickly forgotten.  Older School isn't the only one who is putting money on juveniles.  Big Mike is offering odds on the people next door.  This is a group of three; two boys and a girl, all of whom smoke pot and play loud music, none of whom holds down a regular job.  A relative owns the house but is not in residence, so the three are likely staying there rent free.  In Big Mike's opinion these three are putty heads and I'm inclined to agree.

AT&T refuses to release the phone records without a subpena.  I'm guessing the company just doesn't feel like printing up a report and sending it along to Chatelaine and to the police, as that would mean extra work.  Likely two to three minutes worth of work, but work equates to money and profit overrides criminal behavior.  I'm betting the IS staff actually charged with doing the work would be happy to help out, but they'll never be consulted.

Last time I spoke with Chatelaine she was pretty discouraged. I told her to buck up, call the Detective back and tell him to write up a subpena and pass it to the judge, or do whatever he had to do to get the phone records.  I advised her to play the poor old lady card and see if she could garner a little sympathy.  If that didn't work, I suggested that she might ask the Detective how he would feel if it was his own mother whose home was burglarized and the police refused to follow up a solid lead to the criminal.

I reminded Chatelaine that she'd lived in her house for well over forty years, that she has been paying her taxes all those years and this is the first time she's ever asked for anything - and that she is retired and over 65.  I also told her, right reason or none, that this kind of thing (subpenas, phone records and all) was nothing new to the police.  They did this kind of thing all the time, the judge saw this sort of request regularly and that if she would call Dick and ask about it, it would get done and these felons could get caught.  Just from reading various law enforcement blogs I'm betting that if the owner of the phone is taken downtown and questioned for 15 minutes she'll roll over on the other two and the whole business will be put to rest.

As Older School suggested (and which I hadn't thought about) I told Chatelaine that she could certainly go up the ladder to the next level, Dick's boss (Big Dick?) and explain what was going on and see if more time and effort might be expended by the Toledo Police on her behalf. Chatelaine could, in fact, call and write to Chief Navarre and see if he would be willing to help out a poor old lady who'd been robbed of what little wealth she had in the world.

That last may be laying it on a tad thick, but Chatelaine has better judgment than I do about such things.

My sincere thanks to the people of Toledo Talk: RFI from LEO: nana, dell_diva, brainswell, dbw8906, Cisco, Molsonator, upso, TheAssHoleLawyer, Anniecski and IneedCoffee as well as to JR for hosting Toledo Talk. I also wish to thank Older School from the blog The P.O.P. Factor by Older School for his significant contribution.

I'll continue to write about new developments as they occur as well as posting a progress report on a regular basis.