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Ex-Employee Sentenced For Stealing From Cantonment Business
June 27, 2017
The former employee of a Cantonment business has been sentenced for stealing equipment and then pawning it.
Michael Anthony Patterson, 44, was sentenced to 48 months probation for felony providing false owner information on pawned items, and grand theft. He was also ordered to pay court costs and restitution to the victim.
Patterson was arrested for stealing two Honda generators valued at $2,000 from that garage of A-1 Small Engines on Highway 29 while he was employed at the business. He then pawned both generators for $310 total at a Pensacola pawn shop, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report. The business owner was able to pay the $310 and recover the generators after they were identified by serial numbers and unique markings.
He is also charged with stealing and pawning additional items, including plasma cutters and welding equipment. A-1 was able to buy back most of the items at pawn, except for one plasma cutter.
Comments
18 Responses to “Ex-Employee Sentenced For Stealing From Cantonment Business”
I don’t even know where he pawned/sold them. I think I’ve made my point as well. You can’t know the history of a pawned item. The best that a pawnbroker do is ask questions and hope that the answers are truthful. Sometimes you can spot a liar. Other times they are quite convincing. Loan value has little to do with new retail value. Responsible pawnbrokers will ask questions and do the proper paperwork. Realize that every situation is unique. I’ll agree that that are some sharks out there who are scumbags. Remember that reasonable people also have an open mind and don’t have a one size fits all approach to life. I am pleased that A1 was able to recover their merchandise. I too think it’s sad that they had to payback the loan to get it. Hopefully restitution is made by Patterson for this and the plasma cutters that were not recovered.
Now that’s one I’ve never heard of. Using a Pawn Shop for storage while you’re out of town so your items will be safe under lock and key and insured. Are you sure you’re not the one who done this transaction? I think I’ve made my point to all the other reasonable people out there. Scott/Mike, keep the faith. Good things come to those that are good. You all take care. Mike Amerson
I agree with Mike Amerson. Additionally, pawn brokers are generally thugs with a little money to purport themselves as good guys.
He used to be my hair stylist. He is very talented. It broke my heart to see this article.I hope there is another dice to this story and it is not as bad as it looks.
Actually Mike I’m not trying to avoid your issue. I do consider myself a reasonable person. What you are failing to consider is that there are many people in the world with extremely diverse personal properties and needs wants and other reasons to require money. I was not there and I’m supposing that you were not either that day Michael Patterson took those generators to the pawn shop. We don’t know if he sold them outright or if he only borrowed money on them. We don’t what questions were asked about why he has 2 new generators. We don’t know what answers were given. We don’t know how reasonable those answers sounded. Is it impossible that someone could legally own 2 new generators? Sure. Is it possible that the same person could be in such dire straights that he is willing to put them up for collateral for 300 even though they are worth 2k? Absolutely.
Here’s another senario:
A person has two new generators in their garage at home. One for him one for mom in the event that a storm will come through one day and does not want to gas them because as new in the box they need no maintenance. Not unreasonable in the least. Now suppose this person is going to take a trip and will have a person come by while he is away to feed his cats. He hopes he can trust them but is not entirely sure and absolutely does not want to loose his generators. He has an idea… He can pawn them and they will be safe under lock and key at the pawnshop while he is away. Not only locked away but also protected by alarms an insurance policy and a surety bond. Great idea but he knows that he will have to pay interest on the amount borrowed. So he does not want to borrow the max he can get because it will drive his interest up.
There are countless scenarios where something is reasonable in one situation and not another. You can not predict what is reasonable because you don’t even know all the questions much less the answers to them.
True that is is the pawnbroker responsibility to ask questions and refuse to transact with suspected thieves. But thieves are sometimes good liars as well. And just because an item’s loan amount does not reflect a given percentage of it’s retail value does not mean that diligence in trying to determine if the item was stolen was not exercised by the pawnbroker.
Brinkley, here’s my issue that you’re just trying to avoid. If a person walks into a Pawn shop with 2 brand new generators and wants to pawn/sell them and agrees to accept 300.00 for 2k worth of merchandise, a reasonable person would have to think maybe they’re stolen. If you were to go to Walmart and one of the clerks there wanted to sell you these same items for that amount, even with a big box store like that, you’re going to question why they’re so cheap aren’t you? That is if you’re a reasonable person. The pawn broker has to report the items taken in, so don’t make it look like they done anyone any favors. If I had to guess, once that was done, the system spit out a hit on the items because the serial numbers were listed as stolen in the data base. So the pawn shop sits there and hopes that who ever had them stolen didn’t have the serial numbers at the time of the theft so after the expiration dates pass they get to keep/sale the items. In this case, A-1 had the information to be entered. Operating a pawn shop is like playing slot machines. You put a dollar in in hope that you win something. The pawn shop loans/pays money in hopes that no one claims it’s stolen. It’s as simple as that. I understand that when a family member steals family items and takes them to a pawn shop to sell/pawn them and later the reported victim wants them back it puts the pawn shop in a possible position to take a loss, but they knew this before opening the doors and that’s the chance they take for being in that business. In a case like that, I could see where the pawn shop should recover their money from the family if they choose not to prosecute, but if it’s a business like A-1, after proving that the property is theirs, they should be allowed to get their property back free of charge immediately and the pawn shop can wait to get their money back from the suspect. Again, go back to my simple example of the slot machines. The laws were lobbied years ago for the pawn brokers to have the law work in their favor and didn’t care what position it put an legitimate victim in. I could go on and on about how that system is, but it’s useless until enough people complain about it till it’s changed. Don’t try to make people think that the pawn shop done anyone any favors by saying if not for them reporting the items was the only way the victim got their property back. Had they called the Sheriffs Office while he was in the lobby trying to pawn the items, he would have gone to jail right then when they ran the serial numbers. Surely they didn’t think he just had two brand new generators just sitting in his garage that he used to get a little spending money for during bad times. You really need to beam yourself back down to reality.
Again Rich, they did not have to buy the jewelry back. They could have prosecuted the daughter for theft and let the legal system run it’s due course. They jewelry would have been placed on police hold for several years while the daughter’s trial, conviction and appeal period had elapsed. Meanwhile the victim has no jewelry and the pawnbroker has no loan repayment. There is law. It’s called the Florida Pawn Brokering Act. You can find it at Chapter 539 of the Florida Statutes. These folks either did not want to press charges against the daughter for theft, or if they did press charges – wanted the jewelry back faster than the several years they would have been required to wait for due process.
If you find the law to be unfair, consider writing your congressman. Don’t slander legal businessmen who are following the law.
The majority of pawnbrokers don’t pawn or buy items that are obviously stolen. There is no money in it. If the victim buys it back at no interest then the pawnbroker has wasted his time writing the loan. If the victim runs due course to reclaim his property without repayment, again it’s a waste of time. In either case the pawnbroker’s money is tied up in bad merchandise that can’t be sold and he can collect no interest on his money. Only an idiot would loan money under those terms. The pawnbroker tries very hard to make sure he is writing profitable loans.
Why should the victim have to buy their stolen items back. That is not right, I know of a case where a daughter stole he mothers antique jewlery and pawned it for a large sum. They had to buy it back. The daughter was in her 20’s it should have been observed that she had no way to come up with the jewlery. A few questions could have prevented this, a call to the law would have helped.
Brinkley; that is spoken like any upstanding Pawn Broker would.
Brinkley, I agree that the main problem is the thief. On the other hand, if an unwitting citizen buys stolen property accidently, it will be taken from them without compensation. They don’t even have the option to write it off for taxes like a corporation would.
There isn’t an easy solution, but as someone who has been robbed on multiple occasions. It would be nice if there were lies people and businesses who purchase obviously stolen goods because it is such a good deal.
It would help if everyone never bought a thing from those with a substance accuse problem. At best, you’re taking advantage of someone in a difficult situation.
Its amazing to me that the majority of the comments here are directed at the pawn shop and not the dirt bag that stole the items. At least the pawn shop did right by reporting. Yeah it sucks that A1 has to buy back their stuff. However, lets focus our anger toward the justice system that just let a convicted thief skate off easy to do this again!
@Rich: The pawnbroker has no way of knowing the history of an item when pledged as collateral for a loan. So you are saying that the pawnbroker should be the only victim in the crime and the he should just be out the money he loaned? How is that any more fair than the original victim being out the item that was stolen? Item was stolen from them so they should just be able to come steal it back from a third party who was not the one who stole from them in the first place? The problem is Thieves, not pawn brokers.
Think about it.
A1 is very lucky that the items were pawned at a reputable broker who reported the transaction. They are also quite fortunate that the broker only had $300 invested that needed to be repaid.
Pawn shops are a rip off .
Its like the payday loan industry.
Both are for people who want others to plan for them.
Avoid them,
WOW, with that stinging slap on the wrist, I bet he’ll wait at least a week before he is back out there stealing from you and I. The comments here about pawn brokers are correct too, this is a business that has legal protections that allow them to buy stolen property without any repercussions. We all need to demand that our Fl. Legislature close these loopholes so that Pawn Broker licenses are no longer a license to steal.
Brinklwy, there is no way someone should have to buy back their stolen items from a pawn show. The pawn shop should have to just give them up with no amount being paid by the person the equipment was stolen from. After a couple of these pawn owners would be a little more selective in who they purchase from. It sounds like you must own a pawn shop
This guy got probation? What a joke!!!!!
@ Mike: It was a law abiding pawn broker who allowed A1’s equipment to be recovered at all. If the items were sold on the street to an individual it would have been years to never that the stuff would have been found. A pawn broker provides a loan service to folks who can’t qualify for a conventional loan at a bank. The loan is secured with merchandise that is put up as collateral. The pawn broker never loans the full retail value of the security merchandise. This way, if the loan is not repaid, then at least there is some profit there for the broker who has loaned money and then waited at least 2 months with no repayment. There are laws in place that protect the pawnbroker from prosecution provided that he follows reporting requirements. (Which allow his merchandise to be known to law enforcement and which this broker obviously complied with.) A1 did not have to repay the loan the get his equipment back. This is simply for expediency. They could instead have gone though due process. This would have caused the items to have been placed on police hold and the pawnbroker or the sheriff would hold the items until the suspected thief has been prosecuted and convicted of his crime AND has exhausted all time given in the law during which he could file appeal on this conviction. Then after all that time had passed, A1 would get the stuff back without having to repay the pawnbroker. In that case the now convicted felon would be responsible for repaying the broker. This takes years in many cases. So the expedient way to get your stolen and found at a pawnbroker stuff back is to prove it’s yours and pay back the loan. The pawnbroker is still the victim in this case too as he has been paid back what he loaned but has been robbed of his right to collect interest on that loan. Please read Chapter 539 of the Florida statutes (The Florida Pawnbroking Act) before lumping law abiding pawnbrokers in with ordinary thugs.
Scott/Mike, you all need to insist that for once, someone goes after the Pawn Dealer for accepting the stolen property. For years because of Political ties, they’ve gotten away with dealing in stolen property. Unless the law has changed, it states that a reasonable person should would know the property may be stolen. If you walk in with 2 brand new generators valued at 2k and sell/pawn both at the same time for as little as 300.00, that would surely make one think something was not right. I also bet this same thief has pawned alike items at the same pawn shop. Good luck getting through the ties I’m sure the shops still have. It’s a shame when you have to buy back your own property that you’ve already bought once. You all take care and thanks for always giving back to the community particularly Law Enforcement. Mike Amerson