Burglarized...

Last new moon weekend, I invited some friends for some new moon telescoping and astrophotography at my cabin in twentynine palms CA, and I arrived to find that it had been burglarized. The place was totally cleaned out. The bastards got, from my "secure garage":

AP Mach 1 GTO mount with Losmandy tripod and mount accessories
Takahashi FS102
9.25" Edge HD
2 Short tube 80 refractors with mounting rings. One had a Starshoot autoguider attached.

There was also 25" Obsession in the garage (these are $12,500 new, mine has upgrades), but they didn't take it!

I don't have much hope of recovering any of that stuff, but thought I'd mention it since I suppose there is a chance it will turn up somewhere. Even though they got mostly telescope stuff and not photography stuff, I thought I'd mention it on this site because a lot of the people here are familiar with the equipment. So if you see a shadowy character pushing a suspicious mach 1 mount, please let me know...

Bummer. That is some *very* fine equipment you lost there. The fundamental requirement of astrophotography (being far out in the boondocks) is also the very thing that makes it hard to secure against theft.

How sad. How painful, too.

It got me to thinking about your "secure garage." Was it a garage with the standard door on the front? Any side door?

Hearing this made me want to run out and buy something that would keep the Navy Seals out of mine!

Be careful. Your cabin might be the next target. Usually, cabin owners get hit there, first.

In retrospect, I feel like an idiot for keeping all that stuff out there. I guess I was hoping for security by obscurity- the garage was not easy to get in to and it didn't look like it contained expensive stuff. And I really wanted to not have to lug my heavy equipment around. (It was very nice while it lasted).

It's all replaceable. I just won't be able to keep anything nice at my cabin any more. They also took all the furniture from the house, so I guess I just have to keep junky furniture there, too.

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Originally Posted by shutterdown

Was it a garage with the standard door on the front? Any side door?

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It wasn't really secure. It had a standard door plus heavy four heavy duty garage doors. All it took was a bolt cutter on the standard door.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shutterdown

Hearing this made me want to run out and buy something that would keep the Navy Seals out of mine!

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Let me know when you find out what that is :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shutterdown

Be careful. Your cabin might be the next target. Usually, cabin owners get hit there, first.

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The cabin was also burglarized- cleaned out almost totally (they left my astro books, though).

Sorry to hear about this, Jon. :(

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

Sorry to hear about this, Jon. :(

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Thanks, John. In the scheme of things, no big deal- no one was hurt and the stuff lost is replaceable.

Bummer, that kind of thing really steams me, I would love to have caught those bums in the act!

Maybe you put up some some faux security cameras and motion sensor lights? Wouldn't cost much and might be enough to change someone's mind if htey come snooping around..

That's terrible Jon. We went through something similar a couple of years ago and you really do feel violated in a sense. It's a horrible thing.

Will any of it be covered by insurance?

Fake security cameras might be a good idea- if the same guys come back, they'll think it was a reaction to the first burglary.

I had homeowners insurance at the place, but my policy was canceled about a year ago because the house was too far form a fire station. So no insurance.

Ouch on the no insurance front.

Massive sympathy for you.

Thanks... it may seem a strange reaction, but the burglary has sort of made me appreciate how little all these toys matter compared to the safety and health of my family.

Hey Jon, I'm really sorry to hear about your unfortunate circumstances. That totally sucks, but I'm happy to hear that you appreciate what's actually important in life!

Perhaps your homeowners Insurance at your current address may cover your loss with something called personal property/possessions coverage, which is different than a personal rider for photography equipment. It would be similar to your coverage if you were visiting someone or if your loss was at a hotel or on a vacation. An example of this type of loss would be a stolen bike while you were inside a store. It's certainly worth asking about anyway. Maybe they would cover a portion of your gear (not furniture), especially since it was personal property for private use and you just left it up at the other house for the weekend.

Hang in there,
Rich

Thanks for the idea, Rich. I didn't know about that. I'll give it a try.
Jon.

Motion triggered camera... not too expensive and if they don't see them you might get some shots of the culprits snooping around.