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Yesterday some bozo withdrew thousands completely emptying out my
friend's checking account. The bank had been notified of course and the
account is closed but there is still someone loaded with my friend's
money running around somewhere. They're in las vegas, we're in
california. With the
prevalence of cameras around banks and atms I'm pretty sure the guy was
caught in the act on tape. I know this might be a stupid idea but
wouldn't there be any way to at least for them to track down footage of
the perp? How hard would it be for us to get a look at it?
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Blah wrote:
Yesterday some bozo withdrew thousands completely emptying out my
friend's checking account. The bank had been notified of course and the
account is closed but there is still someone loaded with my friend's
money running around somewhere. They're in las vegas, we're in
california. With the
prevalence of cameras around banks and atms I'm pretty sure the guy was
caught in the act on tape. I know this might be a stupid idea but
wouldn't there be any way to at least for them to track down footage of
the perp? How hard would it be for us to get a look at it?
Well, you really say how it was done. It can be done electronically.
It's unlikely it was an ATM withdrawal.
You first have to get a law enforcement agency to take on the case.
Banks and ATMs generally have cameras. However, the quality is usually
so poor that the images are useless until a suspect is identified. An
agency investigating would, I believe, be perfectly willing to have him
view the images, if any, since there's a possibility that it's someone
he's had contact with, in his home, for instance.
If he's been in Las Vegas recently, it would be easier to get Las Vegas
interested, since the account information could have been diverted
there, and they're sensitive to visitors being victimized.
--
Gerald Clough
"Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."
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Blah wrote:
Yesterday some bozo withdrew thousands completely emptying out my
friend's checking account. The bank had been notified of course and the
account is closed but there is still someone loaded with my friend's
money running around somewhere. They're in las vegas, we're in
california. With the
prevalence of cameras around banks and atms I'm pretty sure the guy was
caught in the act on tape. I know this might be a stupid idea but
wouldn't there be any way to at least for them to track down footage of
the perp? How hard would it be for us to get a look at it?
Assuming this tape exists, it'd be no harder than the police force
investigating this robbery would make it. I'm inferring that you think
you know who stole your friend's money and therefore could ID him if
shown the tape.
Since the crime occured in NV, you need to contact the police there near
where the crime happened and then cooperate with the assigned officer.
You refer to 'they'. Do you mean the police or someone else?
BTW, don't expect the kind of police action you see on shows like CSI.
You will probably need to shout to get any action from them and even
then, since you far away, you may not get them off their collective duffs.
-paul
ianal
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On Wed, 18 May 2005 13:44:38 -0400, "Blah" <cidster12@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Yesterday some bozo withdrew thousands completely emptying out my
friend's checking account. The bank had been notified of course and the
account is closed but there is still someone loaded with my friend's
money running around somewhere. They're in las vegas, we're in
california. With the
prevalence of cameras around banks and atms I'm pretty sure the guy was
caught in the act on tape. I know this might be a stupid idea but
wouldn't there be any way to at least for them to track down footage of
the perp? How hard would it be for us to get a look at it?
Considering the privacy laws involved (federal laws on banking
privacy, if no others), the chances that you could get a look at it
without a court order are just about zip.
If the police can find the guy, it might make sense for your friend to
file a civil suit against him. In that case the bank's photographic
record would be highly relevant as evidence, and subpoenaing it should
be fairly straightforward.
My email address is LLM041103 at earthlink dot net.
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"Blah" <cidster12@yahoo.com> wrote:
Yesterday some bozo withdrew thousands completely emptying out
my friend's checking account. The bank had been notified of
course and the account is closed but there is still someone
loaded with my friend's money running around somewhere.
Odds are the someone is loaded with the bank's money. If the bank
hasn't reimbursed your friend's account, he should see a lawyer
familiar with Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Stu
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Paul Cassel wrote:
Blah wrote:
Since the crime occured in NV, you need to contact the police there near
where the crime happened and then cooperate with the assigned officer.
You refer to 'they'. Do you mean the police or someone else?
BTW, don't expect the kind of police action you see on shows like CSI.
You will probably need to shout to get any action from them and even
then, since you far away, you may not get them off their collective duffs.
-paul
ianal
Two points. One is that the money was removed from his local bank, which
gives the local agency jurisdiction. Second, newer identity theft
statutes, which usually include such things as debit card and account
numbers, provide for venue in the county of residence of the victim.
Under one or the other, the local agency can work the case. I rountinely
take local jurisdiction on similar cases where information belonging to
local residents were used in other counties and other states.
And in reference to another reply stating that they victim would not get
to see the bank video, if any. The investigating agency can show the
victim the images and likely would, given the situation and the
reasonable possibility that the actor was known to the victim.
--
Gerald Clough
"Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."
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BTW, don't expect the kind of police action you see on shows like CSI.
You will probably need to shout to get any action from them and even
then, since you far away, you may not get them off their collective duffs.
Would it be illegal to tell the police you are an author in the process of
writing a magazine piece about how crime is investigated in Las Vegas? If
that white lie is illegal, I presume the police would not get off their
duffs to do much about it, but they might, as a consequence, get off their
duffs to investigate the more serious bank theft. Just a thought.
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On Fri, 20 May 2005 20:56:03 -0400, Paul Cassel
<pcasselplustwo@comcast.net> wrote:
Assuming this tape exists, [getting it would] be no harder than the police force
investigating this robbery would make it. I'm inferring that you think
you know who stole your friend's money and therefore could ID him if
shown the tape.
The following suggestion is rather theoretical, but I am moved to
mention it because I just finished writing a paper on the topic.
The Internet often creates situations in which one person has a cause
of action against and other but does not know the identity of the
person in question. In this situation it is... not common, but quite
regular to file a lawsuit against "John Doe" and then get his
identity from his ISP or other service provider with a subpoena. In
this case, if the police were not helpful, and if the victim wanted to
proceed on his own, and had reason to believe he could identify the
perp from the tape, he could use this approach to subpoena the tape.
A typical Internet case is Sony Music Entertainment Inc. v. Does 1-40,
326 F. Supp. 2d 556 (S.D.N.Y. 2004), a copyright infringement action
against music file sharers. The court granted Sony the requested
subpoena and defined the following five-part test for judging such
requests:
1. Has the plaintiff made a prima facie showing of a cause of action?
2. Is the discovery request sufficiently specific to be likely to
produce information that will enable the plaintiffs to serve one or
more defendants who are subject to the court's jurisdiction?
3. Does the plaintiff have an alternate (less extreme) means of
obtaining the necessary information?
4. Does the plaintiff have a "central need" for the information
sought, i.e., is the information central to proving the plaintiff's
case and securing the desired relief?
5. Does the defendant have a legitimate expectation of privacy, and if
so, does that expectation outweigh the plaintiff's interests?
Different courts define different standards for judging this type of
case, but none of them are radically different from this one.
My email address is LLM041103 at earthlink dot net.
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