Posted by A Very Happy Leland on March 01, 2002 at 00:01:50:
In Reply to: Possible stolen VMI on auction site posted by LV on February 27, 2002 at 07:43:33:
Here's what happened at my end of the story, starting yesterday morning as we were getting ready to leave MCAS Yuma --
At maybe 8 that morning, Yuma time, I was told that I needed to see our Drum Major, so I went to his room. He says to me that he has good news, and that MGySgt Perry of the Marine Band called him about my horn showing up on eBay. So, I called the band office and left a message.
In the meantime, I got on the phone with my mom in Omaha, NE, since I didn't have internet access. She got online, and started a search on eBay. Somewhere on the second or third page of "tuba"-related material, she stopped and said, "Oh my God," in that way that lets me know she found something important (you know how mothers are!). I had her read the description, and as soon as she said "three mouthpieces", it was identified. She told me the eBay item number and some other info.
MGySgt Perry called into my call waiting, and he told me the same information, plus the name and number of the pawn shop. He & I finished our call, and I got back to my mom, telling her what he told me. I had her inform eBay of the stolen tuba while I called the police detective office that was handling my case, relaying all the information. Then, I called the D&B office at Marine Barracks, 8th & I, told GySgt Haslam what I knew and had done so far, and by that time eBay had closed the auction (my ma, or Tom Mason, must've gotten a hold of somebody rather quickly). We're also making arrangements to have the tuba delivered to the D&B office upon recovery. By now, maybe 45 minutes had passed, and I had fried my cell phone battery.
Later that morning, I received an email from King Pawn (checked via my phone with a fresh battery), stating that the tuba did match the description on this site, and that they will hold it until arrangements are made through the police for tis return. So, yes, they know it's hot, and they're willing to give it back. Maybe the extra publicity generated here helped, too.
SO, as it stands now, the property detective at the police station should be coordinating something to get the horn back. I haven't been able to talk to many people today, what with the three-hour time difference (in San Diego today) putting my free time much later than anybody's office hours in back in DC.
Yes, someone did try to pull stickers from the case, and got most of them -- but not all of the United Airlines "Fragile" sticker. I don't think anybody else has that combination of mouthpieces, either. I've also got the idea that maybe King Pawn wrote the eBay description thoroughly enough so that the horn could be identified -- they might have been trying to get the word out about it rather than actually sell it. Even the 5th valve slide is still where I keep it.
ANYWAY, I owe quite a number of beers to quite a number of people! All this has definitely made the rest of our west coast tour a bit brighter. Thanks for the emails to me, even though I did hear about it through our own grapevine first.
From MCRD San Diego (in the bowling alley I never saw as a recruit!),
LCpl Leland Jordon
D&B Co, USMC