Indeed, a most interesting turn of events. In my last update I was trying to get my local authorities (Henderson Nevada Police Dept, hereafter HPD) to assign my now very active property recovery case to a detective, have that detective issue a subpoena to Ebay for buyer/seller details, and then conduct suitable follow-ups to try and retrieve the watch.
Over the last several weeks, I visited HPD several times to ask for updates and to be a squeaky-wheel. It was obvious from the start that a property recovery case was going to be low on their priority list. In my last visit I also asked them to check the NCIC database to make sure my watch was still listed as stolen. I think it was a user here on OF that alerted me about NCIC db entries being purged at regular intervals, and sure enough, my watch was no longer in the NCIC db, much to the surprise of the officers, so they agreed to add it back again.
My persistence in being a nuisance paid off, a detective was finally assigned. I got a call from that detective, and that's when I received some good news. He had successfully subpoened EBay, got the seller/buyer identities, and had made contact with the buyer. Whoa!! The buyer confirmed they had the watch, and, verified the serial number was in fact my stolen watch
You can imagine how I felt in the moment. First time in 2 years I felt like I was going to actually get the watch back. The detective let me know the buyer was a gentlemen in Los Angeles who was being very cooperative and understanding about the situation. That's when I had the first real amazing turn of events. The detective said the buyer wanted to know if I was a member of "omegaforums" 😲 I told the detective that yes, I am a member, and that he could pass along my personal information including my OF username to the buyer. A short while later he replied back that the buyer is a man named "Tony" in Los Angeles, and before he could even say any more, I was pretty sure I knew right there who it was. He went on to say "and he says he's a friend of yours"
Yep, its definitely who I think it is, none other than my friend, and our very own
@tpatta Talk about mixed emotions - on the one hand I'm over joyed that it looks like I'm getting my watch back, but now I learn it's my friend who was the unsuspecting buyer and that he is likely going to have a tough time getting his money back. (more on that in a second....)
Tony and I were able to speak with each other shortly after that and share in our joint amazement over this whole saga. I shared with him my whole story of acquiring the watch originally, having it stolen, searching for it, etc., and he shared with me his long journey of looking for this edition, acquiring it, attending an LA Olympic 2028 Omega event with it recently (and being the Belle of the Ball), only now to find himself in this situation. Really unbelievable. I also want to make it perfectly clear, Tony at no time suspected this watch was stolen, nor would I, had I been the buyer. I have bought multiple watches in a very similar situation (i.e. box, some papers, but some of the kit missing, like the warranty card - still everything seems to checkout ok so you go for it). Tony is 100% the victim here, I don't want anyone confused.
I am incredibly lucky that the person who ended up with the watch is a person with the highest level of personal integrity. Tony could have easily just told the detective "nope, sorry, its not the same watch", "sorry, already sold it", or a handful of other excuses in order to keep it, and that would have ended it right there. That's just not the type of person that Tony is. He and I have already sorted out getting the watch back to me and I look forward to the first "wristi" that will be posted in this thread this will be the first "wristi" I've ever taken with the watch as I've never actually worn it! This also begins a process for Tony to be made whole, which I don't want to get into much here, but its looking like a challenge. Let's hope the seller is a person of integrity who ultimately does the right thing. It is certainly in that seller's best interest to do so, trust me. I'd like nothing more than to sing the praises of this seller for doing the right thing and being a person of high integrity. We will see.
More to come.
