This blog will address the problems of working in any store that accepts trades of games/dvs for cash and determining the legality of knowingly accepting stolen items.

Today, about an hour before we close, a woman brings in a garbage bag full of games and dvds. She wished to trade for cash. As we go through the stacks of items it is apparent immediately that they are all multiple copies of just a few titles. 6 copies of Bomberman DS...really? They are all opened (she has done this before.)

Now I never claim to be the most intelligent person in the world, that however does not make me an idiot. They are obviously stolen. They are all games for under $20 dollars that walmart/target just tosses in dump bins this time of year.

Now we could have processed all items, but should we really sit on 4 copies of M&M's: Break Em DS? 6 copies of Bomberman?! This time of year with so many people in the store, I really don't want to make a scene. We inform her that we will take one of each, that is all. Meanwhile she gets into a argument with another customer who is offering her $20 dollars for one each of the PS2 games she had.

This brings up a few points. To me it is obvious that the items are stolen. If I knowingly accept stolen goods, I could potentially be charged with a misdemeanor offense. Secondly, if I decline the transaction, a reason would be asked of me. If I claim I believe them to be stolen, I could be sued for libel if I am wrong.

On the opposite side of the coin for a moment, still on topic. I was contacted by someone via telephone that they are the police and are asking for the ID information of someone who traded items in. I look up the information, find it and I am ready to divulge it to the authorities. I ask if I could call them back and to give me their extension to prove it was the police, and not just someone testing to see if we give out the aforementioned parties liscence information or I could give it out to an officer if they stopped in and presented ID. I was put on hold and transferred to someone else who began screaming at me and threatening to arrest me for hindering a police investigation, withholding evidence and willfully accepting stolen goods. Color me shocked, but not without resources. My response? "I dare you to come down arrest me. I made viable claim to ensure our customers privacy from non authority individuals, if you attempt to arrest me for that, I will contact my lawyer and sue the city faster than you can say false arrest and wrongful imprisonment, let me speak with your supervisor." They did send an officer, who was very apologetic about the phone conversation. I surrendered the information and the bad guy got busted. Good times, almost as much fun as the 2 times I was involved in dealing with the secret service. But that is a tale for another day.