Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion sign thief !!! oldgas member !!! Wanna know who ?

,,,So did he sell signs here recently on Oldgas? Wow!

I just talked with Chris and everyone should remember that there are 2 sides to every story!
He currently has some legal issues that he indicated to me that are personal and concern his business and resulted in the mug shot that was posted.
I am not here to defend anyone and I have no first hand knowledge of the incidents that occurred that started all of this but I do know that people tend to jump to conclusion by nature and this situation is an example of that.
I appreciate the alert given to all of us in situations like this but it should do no more than to make everyone aware in order that they pay attention to their own concerns that could or would be connected to the situation. Anything else at this point is pure speculation and should be treated as such.
Theft is a pretty serious allegation and I'm sure that the real answers will come out. Its only a matter of time but lets give him that time before the lynch party decends.
Thanks--KEVIN

You are right time will tell !!!

I agree with Kevin, I have bought parts from him in the past and no problems at all. Time will tell.

TOO MANY are yelling RAPE, Before the Truth is laid on the table.
How many of you get a Receipt EVERY TIME you buy a sign, globe, can, matchbook, S&P set, etc. at a swap meet, from a farmer or a picker? Who is to say those items were not stolen? Do you remember who & when you bought each of those items in your collection? Do you have a Receipt for each item?

I could name one that was convicted & have served time in a State Pen for receiving stolen property. One is well known in the hobby & others [some are members here] look up & praise him! Until a couple of years ago it was Public Knowledge accessible on the web.

Don't start throwing stones before you know the whole story.
Good Luck Chris, your Innocent in my book till PROVEN GUILTY in a court of law.

Well said Mr. Bennett!!!

I believe it was the Lord who said..."Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone?" This subject should never have been addressed on this chat room, in my opinion. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Dick, first let me congratulate you for the words of wisdom . To many times , especially on these forums , too many tend to "Dogpile" on someone .Ed Shaver

Not to get political, but our country is square in the midst of a quite similar situation-the Treyvon whatever his name is case. With very few facts known and an investigation in its infancy, the nation's press jumped all over this in such a fury that even the POTUS took a premature stand. There is no urgency here as there was no urgency there. Let the facts sift out. Keep your bp down. There's stii a pretty fair chance in this great nation that justice will be served (especially in Texas).

I read this post several times and I dont see where anyone said the guy is guilty (unless those posts were removed). I dont see any problem with reporting the fact that DIESEL/
Christopher Santos was arrested, allegedly for stealing and or possession of stolen signs.
I find it kind of funny that many of you jump all over some (probably uneducated) guy selling a sign on ebay as an original when its a repop and calling him a crook on here, yet you jump right up to defend a guy who has actually been arrested for stealing or possession of stolen property. Makes me wonder

I hear ya V

Let the judicial system decide if he is guilty or innocent but this site does need to be informed that he was charged with this as many members have had dealings with him.

I will share a story... i bought a globe of ebay about 4 or 5 years ago. It was a Marathon Running man globe! Story he had on ebay was it came of his grandpa farm and been there for years. Well i owned this globe for 8 or 9 months and got a phone call from MI State Police once afternoon. I thought it was a joke at first... it wasn't. I keep all my ebay listings i buy for my records. I had to email the MI State Police these and was told to not sell the globe. 3 or 4 months went by and the Police called me back and told me the guy and his brother got caught stealing lighting rods from farms and must have stole the globe in the process. He said the thing is they kept records of what they stole. They were convicted and he said the farmer was getting restitution for the stuff that was stolen and wanted to buy the globe back from me because of sentimental value. I said sure... well the farmer demanded me i give it back and no charge. I told him what i paid and that the body was broke and i replaced it. I ended up calling the state trooper back and told him the story. The farmer got the globe back and i got my money.
You just never know...

Jarvis is the lucky one here. Everyone needs to know and keep in mind that under the law in all 50 states, a thief cannot pass any better title to property than he has, which, of course, is none. This has been the law in English speaking countries for about 500 years. The only exception was the marché ouvert, developed in Saxon times, which has long ceased to exist and was never employed in the American colonies or their successor states. So, in short, the sale of stolen goods never conveys effective title.
The Michigan authorities had every legal right to demand return of the globe Jarvis bought on eBay to hold it as evidence and to return it to its rightful owner. I am assuming that Jarvis was paid by the farmer in question although Pay Pal does have some return policies. I would imagine that having bought stolen property would qualify for a refund from Pay Pal if their time limits for return are otherwise met.
As for "knowingly receiving or concealing" stolen property, earlier posts are correct that the prosecution must prove knowledge or reason to believe that the property in question is stolen. Knowledge is an element of that crime. The tricky part here is that one can buy stolen property under circumstance that would lead a reasonable person to believe or suspect it might be stolen. Upon indictment, that becomes a factual question for the jury. You can say, "I didn't know" and maybe you didn't but the final determination rests with 12 people with drivers' licenses (the only qualification in most states) who were not clever or smart enough to get excused from jury duty.
If you buy a $3000 Gargoyle opg at the flea market for $250 you might ask yourself a few questions before you put your money down. Yes, there are bargains and there are sellers who don't know what they've got. There are also thieves with a good yarn.
As always, caveat emptor.

Caveat emptor = let the buyer beware. Meaning, if it seems to good to be true, then it probably isn't. So, be careful with who you deal with. Correct, that the true owner gets his property back, even from a legitimate buyer. The buyer's only recourse from that is to go after the wrongdoer (meaning he loses out on his money). Or, as Steve mentions, the buyer can get a refund if he used ebay, paypal, credit card, etc. Paid cash? Forget about it.

Websites like this and other organizations devoted to the hobby are great resources for knowledge and will help keep hobbyists protected from "great deals". Knowledge is the buyer's best weapon.

Steve sounds like a lawyer, or law prof. Nice lesson.