Stolen equipment?

37chief · Jan 31, 2017

I saw these two things hidden in a field where I mow. from the road looking down they are about 50 yards next to a fence. You need to walk down t actually see them. I contacted the owner of the field I mow.He lives in another town. He said just take them off my property. I couldn't do that. The police said they will impound them after a few months if no one claims them I can have them. What I found is the neighbor removes a section of his fence does a little work, then returns them, and puts his fence back. The neighbor has very little room to do anything. So they are not stolen. If I contact the owner of the equipment to see if he wants to sell them, what should they be worth? Stan

Bob Bancroft · Jan 31, 2017

You're thinking you can deal with someone who regularly removes a line fence, trespasses, and parks equipment on someone else's property?
Maybe checking with serial numbers to see if they have been stolen would be a first step.

ss55 · Jan 31, 2017

I'd stay out of it and let the property owner work things out.

Hotflashjr · Jan 31, 2017

Also run a lien or UCC search on the neighbor, land owner, whomever was involved. Those could have a lien and debt against them.

markct · Jan 31, 2017

Sure sounds fishy to me, like stolen, but oh no those aren't on my property someone must have dumped them on the neighbors property.

Brent Zappe · Jan 31, 2017

This is a story I use to hear all the time. the question is that some people I use to know would have asked the owner of the property to store it. Some times people who own this type of equipment have to much and they just assume It is okay to park it there and leave it. then they forget it and then it gets hauled away. When they come back looking for it they quickly assume it has been stolen. If I where you I would let the owner of this property handle this first. Let him give you a note of bill or of sale for this equipment. This should cover you just in case the owner come to find it. By looking at the conditions of this machine it looks like it needs a lot of T.L.C.

Olliejunkie · Jan 31, 2017

Could be stolen but not reported if they didn't have serial numbers. Not really the type of equipment you would see sitting around these here.

Brent Zappe · Jan 31, 2017

I forgot to ask this last question: why are you on private property any way's.

Dune Country · Jan 31, 2017

prolly the bank is looking for them

PJH · Jan 31, 2017

We had a neighbor for a couple of years who owned the place next to us, but didn't live there, so when he asked to store a nearly new Lincoln Pipeliner welder in our barn, it didn't seem suspicious at all. One bright sunny day I needed to get an implement out that the welder was blocking, so I pulled it out in the front yard. He happened to drive by, saw the welder and whipped into the yard all excited, wanting to get it back inside the barn immediately. That set off alarms in my head, and I told him to get that thing off of our property immediately. We got it tied on behind his pickup and down the road he went. There was something fishy about that welder - I'm pretty certain it was stolen by the way he was acting, and I'm even more certain that he would have denied knowing anything about it if it had been found on our barn.

He moved to Oklahoma one night and we never saw him again.

47fivewindow · Jan 31, 2017

or a ex partner, or the insurance co.

Traditional Farmer · Jan 31, 2017

Could be one of the things mentioned or if there is crazy strict zoning laws in the area he may not be able to keep them at his place in sight of the road or something.Found a truck in a hay field I was cutting,come to find out a fellow down the road was hiding it from his wife that didn't want him to buy it.

BarnyardEngineering · Jan 31, 2017

(quoted from post at 12:25:20 01/31/17) I forgot to ask this last question: why are you on private property any way's.

It sounds like he mows the place.

BarnyardEngineering · Jan 31, 2017

If you know FOR A FACT that the equipment belongs to the neighbor, report that to the land owner and leave it at that. Let the land owner deal with the police and/or the neighbor.

You stay out of it beyond that. He is not storing it there because he wants to sell it. He is storing it there because he doesn't have enough room on his own property, knows that this property is vacant, and won't pay for a storage lot. That is not cool on many levels.

Billy Shafer · Jan 31, 2017

I believe he said he mows that field. For the owner

docmirror · Jan 31, 2017

Yeah, those belong to me, I need the address so I can come over and haul my stuff back home where they belong.

(ducks, and runs for cover)

Seriously, I have no idea on the value of either machine, but if the guy who owns them has permission to park there, then the lot owner either doesn't recall giving permission or has revoked it. About the only thing I would do is tell the equip owner that he need to move them off the lot, as the lot owner knows nothing about them being parked there. If he chooses not to move them, just let the cops impound them. Job done.

Dick2 · Jan 31, 2017

Don't mess with stolen equipment; you don't need that kind of trouble. Report what you found to the property owner and let them deal with it!

37chief · Jan 31, 2017

I have the owner's permission to enter the field, and mow the weeds every year. I cut the weeds right up to the fence. Stan

4play · Jan 31, 2017

You might also look into the laws of private property impounds. Might also be a good time to have a friend in the towing/impound business. If you are the caretaker of the property you might have the authority to have the equipment impounded. I would think if they were impounded and you had rights to claim the equipment at a later date, you would have to pay the towing and daily impound fees.

I doubt they are stolen, the neighbor probably views the empty lot as abandoned and feels fit to park stuff there for free until somebody gets mad.

ss55 · Feb 1, 2017

I'd think twice about rehiring someone that I feel is too nosy about my stuff.

BarnyardEngineering · Feb 1, 2017

Stop viewing this as an "end around" to getting some "free" equipment.

You know who the equipment belongs to, so for all intents and purposes it is not stolen. Maybe it is, but that's none of your business. That's between the landowner, the neighbor, and the police.

You can't call the cops, have the equipment impounded, then claim it for yourself after so many days if you know who the equipment belongs to. Even if it is parked on the property without permission, two wrongs do not make a right.

Most likely it is NOT stolen anyway. He wouldn't be taking down the fence and using the equipment on his property if it were. Too risky. The equipment also looks neglected and poorly maintained. I would expect thieves to steal better looking equipment because it's worth more money.

37chief · Feb 2, 2017

Did you read all my post, the property doesn't own the equipment. Stan

37chief · Feb 2, 2017

I DID call the police when I first noticed the equipment. They DID say they will impound the stuff, and if no one clames them I can have then. After that I saw the neighbor had moved them, by hot wiring. The police never followed through, as I stopped calling when the neighbor was using them. Where did you get your law degree? Stan

Destroked 450 · Feb 2, 2017

Looks like several half read your post and jumped to conclusion.
You've done to right thing, you have a agreement to mow property owners lot, you where doing that work and found equipment there that did't belong to property owner, you talked to police about it possibly be stolen, you found that a neighbor was parking the equipment there without permission from the property owner.
The neighbor ether doesn't have room or zoning laws prevent him from parking equip on his own property and he doesn't want to pay storage lot rent, he's ether using that equip to work on his own property or does a little side line work because it's older equip, the weeds and rust on the buckets indicate it's not used very often.
If your interested in the equip then ask the neighbor if he would be interested in selling, I have no idea of their value but would guess a few thousand each min if they run ok.
If he doesn't want to sell contact the property owner your mowing for and advice him of what the neighbor is doing and let him take it from there, you can't tell the neighbor not to park his stuff there, only the property owner can.

Stolen equipment?

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