BajaNomad

Thugs, Thievery and Ladrones... input please

CaboSur - 10-28-2014 at 12:22 PM

Just curious how many of you have been robbed ... house broken into..
car stolen ... vandalized..

Approx. 3 years ago my home in San Jose was broken into with various tools and jewelry
stolen. Apparently the ladron left in a hurry since there were various items
scattered outside. Nothing recovered .

Also during construction of my home (6 years ago) a thief entered and was sacred off by
one of my neighbors. Mostly copper tubing, fittings and a few tools taken.

Don't know if the incidence of thievery has increased here in the Baja or is it
being reported more often?

DaliDali - 10-28-2014 at 12:49 PM

Wiped me out last year when I was gone to the other side.

TV, Sat box, cleaned out my tool chest, snatched every rod and reel I had, every lure I had, power tools, down to Sabiki bait rigs. All this behind steel locked doors and concrete block walls in a bodega.

I take the list of missing items to the local "administario publico" who wanted a propina for taking the report and more propina to "help" look for the items.

Now yesterday my mobile phone is gone. Had it in the boat in a zip lock bag along with my camera. Put that bag on a table outside, (phone and camera inside) one worker here at the time. Phone gone!!....camera no.

My son left a bag full of lures and my handheld GPS near the ramp in Loreto, I hustle back 30 minutes later and ask the local groupies if they saw what happened and who took the bag. Then some groupie confronts me and says "gringos must have stole your bag" in a "I hate gringos" manner.

Good Victoronix filet knife......gone the other day. No where to be found.

Housekeeper snatches 11000 P I had hid in a cupboard.....
Housekeeper snatches 3 $100 bills I had under some t-shirts. Then says I must have mislaid them.....or another "visitor" must be the rata. Yeah right honey.
Housekeeper snatches 3000 pesos I had hid in a jacket pocket in the closet.
(not all the same ones) When confronted, "oh no not me"
She got fired for that one.....and then files a "demanda" on me which cost me 2000 P to dissolve.

EVERYTIME I go to find something or other.....damn if it ain't gone and no where to be seen. I know for a fact I did not steal it, nor do they have legs.
Shovels, hammers, rakes, wrenches, tools of all colors......gone!!

Frankly I am sick of it all......now I have bars on all the windows and all doors are secured with bars and padlocks. Prison style barbed wire around the block walls.....3 dusk to dawn lights.
Then I notice that barbed wire cut the other day.....and the plants trampled inside where the rat stepped down into them.
That rat never got in the house or garage.....pheww!!

[Edited on 10-28-2014 by DaliDali]

AKgringo - 10-28-2014 at 01:12 PM

I have been visiting Mexico since my parents brought my siblings and I down to Manzanillo in 1959. There were bars on the windows then, and we quickly learned not to leave things unattended.
What has changed, is communication. There was no way to know back then how often and where it was happening.
By the way, during that same time period in the northern California sierra Nevada mountains, we quit locking my grandfathers cabin because we were tired of replacing doors and windows!

Osprey - 10-28-2014 at 01:12 PM

Must be just the luck of the draw. After 20 years of fishing, vacationing down here in Baja Sur, then 20 more living here full time, zero problems with thieves. That fact that I live a kind of Mexican way of life might have something to do with it. Not many material things around my place worth breaking a law to own, use or try to sell. Bob Dylan again "When you got nothin' you got nothin' to lose" --- maybe he was singing about me.

DaliDali - 10-28-2014 at 01:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Must be just the luck of the draw. .


Could be just the luck..... I have lived in the same casa for 13 years and never had a thing stolen.
Lately it seems, it's rampant.

I live a "Mexican" way of life about as well as to be expected.
Speak the lingo and get along with everyone. All my neighbors are Mexican.

I hate to be putting up bars and locks....prison does not suit me worth a damn.
But lately I have laid out thousands $$ to replace my fishing gear and power tools I use frequently.

Yep, I am on the hunt for "another" housekeeper and another day laborer.
Despite my bad fortune, here is far better than the bowels of So Cal anyday.

Bob53 - 10-28-2014 at 01:47 PM

Been traveling in Baja for close to 50 years and have only had a gas can and spare tire stolen. Oh, and my virginity.

monoloco - 10-28-2014 at 02:41 PM

There is quite a few home burglaries in the area where I live, so us and most of our neighbors have installed security systems and we closely watch each others homes, we all have a powerful hand held lights and when a dog starts barking at night, we'll go check it out, also when someone is leaving for the evening we will call the other neighbors and let them know so they can be extra vigilant. One thing that's important with a security system is having a flashing light on the roof so the neighbors can easily determine which house the alarm is coming from. When I see strangers walking around the neighborhood I make it a point to go and talk with them and try and determine if they are there for some nefarious motive, it also gives me a chance to get a good look at them so I could recognize them again. The key to good security is having a good dog and knowing your neighbors and getting everybody involved in maintaining vigilance. So far no one in our immediate neighborhood has had a major theft in several years since we have become more serious about security. A lot of it also depends on where you live, some areas are just a lot worse than others, years ago, we lived in Bario San Juan de Pescadero, and you couldn't leave a pair of Levis hanging on the line unattended.

[Edited on 10-29-2014 by monoloco]

Hook - 10-28-2014 at 03:31 PM

The thievery and the policia municipal run-around goes on quite a bit over here, too. We have had cops caught red-handed, and they were let go. No items returned to any of the victims, and this was multiple houses.

Nothing encourages crooks more than police, prosecutors and courts that won't do their jobs.

Judicial reform, indeed.

We have not been hit, but our lot is basically a fancy RV lot. It doesnt have much (what the RE agents call) curbside appeal. Yes, we have window bars and metal security screen doors.

There is one very successful security company in town that puts in security systems. Keep in mind that many homes are vacant during the off-season, which is the summer months. One person who contracts with them claims that he was told by the owner that their main function was to arrive BEFORE the police get there, to make sure nothing else disappears while the police are, uh, investigating the incident. The security company doesnt intercede if the perps are there; they call the police for that. But they are watching the police as much as anything.

One last note to the line from Dylan's song. The locals got nothing and they still get burglarized. But they NEVER call the police. That just compounds the problem.

monoloco - 10-28-2014 at 03:45 PM

Another thing that happens here is that the thieves will rob a place where the homeowner is gone for the summer, the police catch the ratones, but since the homeowner is gone there is no one to press charges within 72 hours and the ministerio publico is required to let them go with no charges. The thieves know this and they have become very bold about burglarizing unoccupied homes, often hitting several in the same neighborhood on consecutive days. We are lucky because we live in a close knit neighborhood consisting of mostly year round residents, so there is usually people around who would notice if something is amiss.

Pompano - 10-28-2014 at 04:44 PM

Thefts happen constantly throughout Mexico. You already know about US states like California. If you want to live life openly and with vigor....theft is a very high risk in Baja.

Just offhand I can think of these items being stolen in Baja.

An 18 aluminum boat, 50hp motor
sonar, cb, cassette player
cooler and booze
rare autographed photograph of Casablanca cast
sea books, logs, and charts
clothes off a clothesline (Mexican Army dudes from road camp in Coyote Bay.)
outside light bulbs (meth heads)
motorhome tv..(Ensenada policeman spotted carrying down the street)
handheld vhf
12volt inverter
...and God knows what else...lots more, I'm sure.


So, although I have had many things stolen over the last 45 years from boats and cars and because of my own trusting nature, my home was burglarized just once.... a long time ago when I had to fly north quickly - my sister had developed brain cancer.

I was pretty peeed when I returned months later to find my home had been broken into. Home invasion hurts, and I'm not about to turn my cheek at this insult, so I offered a big reward for the capture and imprisonment of the criminal. Word spread via my reward posters, plus mi amigos in Coyote and Mulege helped to spread the word, locals and foreigners alike. He was soon captured and most all of the stolen items were returned. Oddly, this character turned out to be a US citizen...a latino from Vacaville bumming around Baja and robbing homes. Many residents thanked me for doing what they believed was a deterrent to crime.

Here's a photo that I took of him standing in a police impound area. I paid the large reward and saw him brought to justice with the return of my stolen items. (One of which turned up in the home of a prominent and embarrassed citizen in a larger Baja Sur town, but that's another story and hilarious to boot.)

Baja justice is hard on the criminal. This fellow was very roughly handled and sent to prison, and Mexican prisons are no country clubs like a lot of ours up north. The ones in Mexico actually punish you for your crimes. Anyway, the prisoner appealed to me for humanitarian reasons and I was compelled to help deport the crook back to the US or he was not going to make it very long in the cereso. I found out that he was treated like an animal and tortured. You can replace stuff, but not a life. It all worked out for the best, though. I'm sure when they dropped him at that border gate he got down and kissed the ground. We won't see my crook in Mexico again. Not after a few months in that lockup.

I've blocked out identification...because I think this person may have suffered enough, and I have no need to beat a dead horse. I'll give him the benefit of reformation. But…I’m thinking of writing an account on the entire event….it was a real Baja Hoot with all the usual wide cast of characters. I still laugh when I recall having to buy film for the policeman's camera to take photos of footprints, and then paying for the film developing, too…..Hoo Boy! Got to be sure I don’t singe any feathers, though. I’d have to check with various cops, federales, lawyers, a judge, a certain politician who knowingly bought stolen goods, a neighboring town's mayor, the police chiefs in two towns who were using my vhf radio and my tv in their offices..…ah well, best forget about it....for now. :rolleyes:



It's just something you learn to live with... and go with the flow. Accept the partnerships of crook and cops and your stuff. Protect yourself as best you can and don't put much stock in material things that others less fortunate do not have.

Hah...brings to mind the time my wife and I went to La Paz carnival for a couple weeks of R & R. I told my buddy & neighbor Noel to keep an eye on our place while we were gone. When we returned late one night, a figure emerged from the blackness wielding a huge machete! Jeez...Noel scared the caca outta both of us. An apparition from a horror movie!! Naturally, nothing was missing on that trip.

[Edited on 10-29-2014 by Pompano]

CaboSur - 10-29-2014 at 09:22 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pompano
Thefts happen constantly throughout Mexico. You already know about US states like California. If you want to live life openly and with vigor....theft is a very high risk in Baja.

Just offhand I can think of these items being stolen in Baja.

An 18 aluminum boat, 50hp motor
sonar, cb, cassette player
cooler and booze
rare autographed photograph of Casablanca cast
sea books, logs, and charts
clothes off a clothesline (Mexican Army dudes from road camp in Coyote Bay.)
outside light bulbs (meth heads)
motorhome tv..(Ensenada policeman spotted carrying down the street)
handheld vhf
12volt inverter
...and God knows what else...lots more, I'm sure.


So, although I have had many things stolen over the last 45 years from boats and cars and because of my own trusting nature, my home was burglarized just once.... a long time ago when I had to fly north quickly - my sister had developed brain cancer.

I was pretty peeed when I returned months later to find my home had been broken into. Home invasion hurts, and I'm not about to turn my cheek at this insult, so I offered a big reward for the capture and imprisonment of the criminal. Word spread via my reward posters, plus mi amigos in Coyote and Mulege helped to spread the word, locals and foreigners alike. He was soon captured and most all of the stolen items were returned. Oddly, this character turned out to be a US citizen...a latino from Vacaville bumming around Baja and robbing homes. Many residents thanked me for doing what they believed was a deterrent to crime.

Here's a photo that I took of him standing in a police impound area. I paid the large reward and saw him brought to justice with the return of my stolen items. (One of which turned up in the home of a prominent and embarrassed citizen in a larger Baja Sur town, but that's another story and hilarious to boot.)

Baja justice is hard on the criminal. This fellow was very roughly handled and sent to prison, and Mexican prisons are no country clubs like a lot of ours up north. The ones in Mexico actually punish you for your crimes. Anyway, the prisoner appealed to me for humanitarian reasons and I was compelled to help deport the crook back to the US or he was not going to make it very long in the cereso. I found out that he was treated like an animal and tortured. You can replace stuff, but not a life. It all worked out for the best, though. I'm sure when they dropped him at that border gate he got down and kissed the ground. We won't see my crook in Mexico again. Not after a few months in that lockup.

I've blocked out identification...because I think this person may have suffered enough, and I have no need to beat a dead horse. I'll give him the benefit of reformation. But…I’m thinking of writing an account on the entire event….it was a real Baja Hoot with all the usual wide cast of characters. I still laugh when I recall having to buy film for the policeman's camera to take photos of footprints, and then paying for the film developing, too…..Hoo Boy! Got to be sure I don’t singe any feathers, though. I’d have to check with various cops, federales, lawyers, a judge, a certain politician who knowingly bought stolen goods, a neighboring town's mayor, the police chiefs in two towns who were using my vhf radio and my tv in their offices..…ah well, best forget about it....for now. :rolleyes:



It's just something you learn to live with... and go with the flow. Accept the partnerships of crook and cops and your stuff. Protect yourself as best you can and don't put much stock in material things that others less fortunate do not have.

Hah...brings to mind the time my wife and I went to La Paz carnival for a couple weeks of R & R. I told my buddy & neighbor Noel to keep an eye on our place while we were gone. When we returned late one night, a figure emerged from the blackness wielding a huge machete! Jeez...Noel scared the caca outta both of us. An apparition from a horror movie!! Naturally, nothing was missing on that trip.

[Edited on 10-29-2014 by Pompano]



You are one of the few to follow thru and i admire your determination...GOOD FOR YOU... at least most of the home invaders in the baja are not carrying firearms like in the US, usually they only have a screwdriver or prybar..

BooJumMan - 10-29-2014 at 09:48 AM

Been robbed at gunpoint and beaten, had my car broken into 5x, House broken into 3x. But this was all North of Border. Been lucky to say I haven't had anything stolen in Mexico aside from a few shots of tequila and cold tecates at the military check points.

durrelllrobert - 10-29-2014 at 10:14 AM

In my 10 years of living in Punta Banda the only things I have ever had stolen was when I first moved here and left my US passport, FM3 and a few hundred pesos in my UNLOCKED car. What really peeed my off though was when the Federal police came to interview me they treated me like the criminal asking over and over who I had sold them too and how much I got paid.

DENNIS - 10-29-2014 at 10:38 AM

Welll...how much? :lol:

chuckie - 10-29-2014 at 11:02 AM

I aint giving them back.....It is a shame that we are forced to live that way, bars, alarms etc. The world as we knew it ,has changed..........

dtutko1 - 10-29-2014 at 12:00 PM

I have been robbed every year in Pescadero. Most of my neighbors have too. Everything from tools, fishing gear to garden tools to flip flops. We have had no problems since we rescued a dog (who dosen't care for Mexicans) during the 4-5 months we reside there. The robberies continue during the summer months. One neighbor was robbed at gunpoint. Very depressing. Having cameras to identify the perps dosen't seem to be the answer. The perps ground off the door hinges and were caught/released. Some kind of security system with alarm and local investigation may be my next try. I know it's just stuff, but the feeling of being violated is tough to deal with. The hardest part is trying to convince my wife that shooting the perps is not the answer.

ncampion - 10-29-2014 at 01:15 PM

The thievery problem in Loreto is getting worse in the past few years, in my opinion. Seems like we hear about an issue on a weekly basis. Had someone come in our house about a year ago and "grab-n-go". We were away for less than 30 minutes but they got a laptop, camera and several power tools. Then a couple of months ago we woke up to find someone had taken the 40 hp motor off the back of our tin boat parked in the driveway. Clear footprints of where they jumped the wall and took it back over to a waiting truck. Little things disappear on a regular basis. I hate to live as a hostage to my house, but we've just about had it. The police never actually follow up on the cases so the thieves know there is no repercussion. Something has to change or it will drive the gringos away.

DocRey - 10-29-2014 at 02:11 PM

Only once in ten years. Thief must have been thin as a rail. Unscrewed an aluminum framed shower window, entered & stole a roto-hammer ( that needed repair, ha! ). No other valuables touched.
Good neighbors on both sides. Pretty fortunate, I guess.

monoloco - 10-29-2014 at 02:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dtutko1
I have been robbed every year in Pescadero. Most of my neighbors have too. Everything from tools, fishing gear to garden tools to flip flops. We have had no problems since we rescued a dog (who dosen't care for Mexicans) during the 4-5 months we reside there. The robberies continue during the summer months. One neighbor was robbed at gunpoint. Very depressing. Having cameras to identify the perps dosen't seem to be the answer. The perps ground off the door hinges and were caught/released. Some kind of security system with alarm and local investigation may be my next try. I know it's just stuff, but the feeling of being violated is tough to deal with. The hardest part is trying to convince my wife that shooting the perps is not the answer.
Don, If you don't sign a denuncia within 72 hours, the ministerio publico is required to let them go. It's a total hassle but it might be worth the price of the plane ticket to see them locked up.

basautter - 11-2-2014 at 11:25 AM

I had my hotel broken once at Rocky Point. I was pretty sure it was US citizens that had a key to the room. I have been more careful ever since, and have never had a problem since (take the valuable stuff with you, don't display anything of value, hide/lock stuff up).

rts551 - 11-2-2014 at 11:33 AM

Basautter - hard to take everything with you if you live there.

Dtutko1 - feel for you...Once a year makes it difficult to not give up and move.

unfortunately this is happening more and more. When I stay with friends in La Paz we park behind a gated yard. In the smaller communities I notice more and more barred windows or walls going up.

latina - 11-2-2014 at 01:52 PM

Yup...had our boat stolen in La Paz....by an American :(

joerover - 11-2-2014 at 03:23 PM

http://www.heroinaddiction.ws/Signs_Of_Heroin_Addiction.htm
http://www.optionsbehavioralhealthsystem.com/addiction/heroi...

why you got robbed-
uncontrollable drug-seeking behaviors

herion is the root of the problem
problem can be solved in one way only

kill all the poppys

bajaguy - 11-2-2014 at 07:56 PM

It would be more effective to kill more than the poppys
Quote:
Originally posted by joerover
http://www.heroinaddiction.ws/Signs_Of_Heroin_Addiction.htm
http://www.optionsbehavioralhealthsystem.com/addiction/heroi...

why you got robbed-
uncontrollable drug-seeking behaviors

herion is the root of the problem
problem can be solved in one way only

kill all the poppys

monoloco - 11-2-2014 at 08:59 PM

How's killing the poppies going to stop meth heads from stealing the copper out of my house?

CJ - 11-3-2014 at 09:49 AM

Thieves come in all disguises. In the twenty three years of having a home in Loreto there have been numerous issues of theft. It started by leaving a getto blaster out on the table at night......Gone the next day. Eight years ago while I was NOB my wife awoke to a ladron in the bedroom with a knife demanding money. Been extorted by Seguro Social and a demando by a worker who quit her job.....but being a Loretano she got her severance pay. Hired a lawyer twice for problems....that didn't work.....got screwed by the lawyers and paid three times what I could have paid without one. One thing is for sure in Loreto....the more money you invest the more you will be molested....they see it they want it...and it's not much anyway is what you will hear.
We now have four dogs which helps keep the ratas away. I have an alarm system, six foot wall, bars on everything. If we go away I have someone stay in the house and cross my fingers.
The police are just as bad or even worse than the ladrons. If they ever confiscate stolen items you usually have to buy them back.....I could go on and on....it's easier to go fishing, that's why I'm here anyhow.....Suerte
:cool::cool::cool:

bajaspuds - 11-3-2014 at 11:48 AM

Eye-opening crime stories. The tourism board must hate this thread.

willardguy - 11-3-2014 at 12:00 PM

now thats a cool avitar!

shari - 11-3-2014 at 06:12 PM

wow...this makes me happy to live in Asuncion where I have never had anything stolen...no bars on the windows, keys are left in the car...all kinds of stuff left outside and nothing stolen. I think one new cleaning gal took a DVD or maybe a guest. In 25 years here I only had a small camera stolen out of our car that had the doors open and it was lying on the seat while I was swimming...not bad eh.

The thing here is that the vigilancia is everywhere...the patrols keep our town safe and the locals look out for one another. Once in a great while someone needs money for crack and robs a neighbours jewellery but hardly ever.

nobaddays - 11-4-2014 at 06:13 AM

I heard about a terrible home invasion this summer in Percebu in San Felipe involving guns.

bajaguy - 11-4-2014 at 07:36 AM

Nah....guns are illegal in Mexico
Quote:
Originally posted by nobaddays
I heard about a terrible home invasion this summer in Percebu in San Felipe involving guns.

snap! snap!

EdZeranski - 11-4-2014 at 08:49 AM

Quote:
...... We have had no problems since we rescued a dog (who dosen't care for Mexicans) during the 4-5 months we reside there.


Same with "Guapo" we found as a street dog in GN. He remembers every time he was kicked or pestered so turns into a furry red torpedo when he sees Mexican men or kids. Ankles beware! When we rented a house in Colonia Zaragosa the owner's yard guy was always looking over his shoulder for the evil Guapo.

EdZ
Ocean Beach/Borrego Springs