DaveKa’s Most Wanted…

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In mid-September 2005, I got a somewhat frantic call from my mother. She stated someone from a check cashing place was trying to get a hold of me. This was strange for two reasons: number one, I’ve never used a check cashing place in my life; and number two, how they tracked me down through my mother who lives in Eastern Washington I’ll never know.

Anyway, she told me that they could not give her any information because it was my personal business but they left her a number so I could call them directly.

The number she gave me was to a Money Tree in Bothell Washington. I called the number and they put me on hold for a manager. When the Manager got on the phone, she explained to me that somebody was just in the store trying to cash a check drawn off of my account in the amount of $230.

Now, I never write checks. The last check I remember writing was to a lawn service company months before. Maybe they lost the check and it’s been laying around for months and they finally got around to cashing it. I asked the manager of the store who it was written out to and what the date on the check was. She told me she couldn’t tell me the name the check was written out to or the name of the person that signed it due to some privacy policy, but she did say that it was dated today.

WOW! Larceny!

I asked if she can fax a copy the check to me and she said she could. How this is any different than just telling me over the phone, I have no clue. I also asked her what the person looked like. She said the person was female, in her mid-thirties, kinda dumpy, and claimed to be my fiancé. She said they knew who she was and where she lived because she had tried this type of thing in the past. So, they dishonored my check and tried to get a hold of me.

I’m thinking that the name it had been written out to and the name that signed it would be two different fictitious names but with the same handwriting. I asked if they had in store security cameras so I could see who this person was. They did not. Why in the hell a check cashing place wouldn’t have a surveillance system is beyond me. Shady joints usually do.

When the faxed check finally showed up at my office, the name on the check was “Pay to the order of Christina Vanhule” and signed by a Christina Vanhule. I called the Money Tree back, and ask the manager if the person that signed the check was the same person that they knew? She emphatically said yes.

Now this Christina Vanhule is a complete idiot. Why would you write a stolen check to yourself signing your own name, at an establishment were you previously got caught passing bad checks? This bitch is a real winner.

Since the cops had already been called by the store, I really didn’t think much about it and spent the rest of the day at work.

When I got home later that evening, I noticed my carport door was open. I thought that was strange because I usually close and lock it when I leave for work. I walked into the house and things didn’t “feel” right. It took several long seconds for me to realize my entire house had been ransacked. And, that the 2 boxes of checks from Schwab (1000 checks) I had recently ordered (but forgot about) that had been on my dining room table were gone too!

All the cupboards, and drawers were open, my Xbox was gone, three laptops were missing, knives were gone, my entire DVD and Xbox game collection was missing, video cameras were gone (they left the most expensive one because it was big and they probably thought it was one of the old VHS types), and digital cameras were missing as well.

I did not know what to do with myself. I was scared, violated, and furious. I wanted to cry, scream and inhale deep breaths of caustic fumes all at the same time. Anything I wasn’t visually focused on was black. I was so pissed, I had tunnel vision. They were lucky I hadn’t caught them in the house. If you’ve never been burglarized, you won’t know what I’m talking about.

I filed a police report. A cop came out and dusted for prints and discovered how they broke in. They used a screwdriver to pry apart the French doors on my deck. The cop told me a detective would be in touch with me within the next couple days.

The detective finally did get in touch with me. I told him I knew who did it because I had her name on the check.

“Officer, the person’s name is Christina…” and in midsentence he interrupted, “Vanhule?”

“How did you know?”

“We have been following her for weeks. Her and her bunch will case houses, break in and steal as much small electronic stuff they can carry to support their drug habit. She’s a crack head mixed up with the Mexican mafia. She has a daughter in Mexico.”

Weeks went by before I got another call from the detective. “We caught her, and recovered some of your property. It’s at the Arlington police station.”

When I got to the police station, my digital camera, almost all of my DVDs, 1 knife, my Xbox, and all my Xbox games were there. What she had done to the DVDs and Xbox games is write her initials “CV” on the front of the cases apparently to “prove” they were hers. What she didn’t realize was that I had labeled all my property too.

Her initials “CV”.

My label.

To this day, when I want to play an old DVD or old Xbox game, I have to see “CV” on it. It used to make me sick, but I’ve gotten used to it and it reminds me to always lock up and to never forget her name.

She and one of her cohorts had ended up stealing a white escalade and a service revolver from a cop in Sammamish. Since she was a felon, it’s illegal for her to be in physical control of a firearm. So, she ended up getting 7 1/2 years for the theft of the revolver alone. Note to thieves; don’t steal from cops especially if one of the items you take is their gun. Another note to thieves, don’t take pictures with one of the cameras you’ve stolen without deleting the images.

Here’s a series of photographs of her and her friends going through my stuff that was left on my camera that was recovered. If you recognize anybody, let me know. I still may get the chance to inhale those deep breaths of caustic fumes while choking off one of these little bastards if I find one.

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