Crime doesn't pay, for once

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StewartR

StewartR

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I've just received some great news from Essex Police. One of our customers, who tried to get away with stealing a lens from us, has just been convicted. As a consequence he now has a criminal record if he didn't have one already; he'll have to do 80 hours of community service; and he's been ordered to pay nearly £2000 (the value of the lens) in compensation. It doesn't compensate me for all the hours I've spent on this case and all the hassle it's caused me, but I can't say I'm not satisfied with the result.

I don't feel in the slightest bit reticent about outing him as a TP member. (Or presumably a former TP member now, since there's probably something in the forum rules to cover this.) He is ADAM GARDNER, a professional photographer in Southend-on-Sea.

Here is his TP profile.

Here is his Facebook page. Interestingly it doesn't say what he was doing last Wednesday, but I guess a magistrate's court doesn't make a very good location for a shoot.

Here is the thread where he lays the groundwork for selling the stolen lens.

Here is the post list showing that he made 100 posts in just a few days, in order to get access to the TP classifieds.

Unfortunately you can't see the thread where he advertised our lens for sale on TP, since it was taken down for some reason, but thanks to Marcel/Matty/Brian I've got a nice copy of it as a souvenir.
 
I clicked the thread and lol'd at my reply, second down:

Sell the 28-300 to me.
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seriously though, glad all is sorted.

instead of paying you the compensation, why didn't they just force him to give the lens back? Has he wrecked it?
 
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trencheel303 said:
instead of paying you the compensation, why didn't they just force him to give the lens back? Has he wrecked it?
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I don't know. "The lens was not recovered" was what I was told by the police. I imagine he's probably sold it.

There isn't any EXIF data accessible on his Facebook images or on his web site, so I can't tell whether or not he's shooting with a 28-300. But I can't see anything about any of his images to suggest that he is.
 
Will be interesting for him when this thread gets crawled by Google...
Not sure how he thought he could get away with it!?
 
Maybe you should leave a nice 'review' on his facebook page that points back to this thread..
 
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Good one haha......I had subscribed to that 'groundwork' thread to see what the outcome would be. Obviously not a lot could be said during that time.

Wonder if the police took a mugshot of him using a similar lens :lol:
 
Wow, good news (and bad) - you don't hear of results like this coming in very often! Have to say that the sentence looks pretty lightweight - if I nicked 2k of stuff I'd expect a lot more than 80 hours community service. Hopefully Google can provide the rest of Adam Gardner, professional photographer, Southend's punishment. :)
 
Well if Adam Gardner from Southend really is a professional photographer, would he really need to be stealing a lens? Surely any professional photographer isn't really a professional photographer if they are convicted of theft in relation to the tools of their trade? This would surely mean that Adam Gardner is in fact no longer a professional photographer from Southend, but is in reality a convicted criminal from Southend? I hope he enjoys his community service. I wonder if it'll include taking photographs?
 
StewartR said:
I thought of that, but surely he would just delete it.

Yes. :D

Maybe re-iterating that his name is Adam Gardner, and that he's a professional photographer in Southend, might help that. :D:D
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Oh, you mean Adam Gardner, the photographer from Essex was convicted for stealing a lens from you? :D:

Glad to see he got his "come uppance". I take it you went via your Insurance ?

Steve

Sent from my iPad using TP Forums
 
Great news Stewart, Pleased to see a he got what was coming to him slimeball, well nearly he needs a good kicking that would be a good outcome too, :thinking:
 
Sorry to hear about the story but I'm happy you got a good outcome. I too am wondering why a professional photographer like Adam Gardner from Southend or Essex would steal a lens? Business can't be good. Then again, the image on his website landing page was enough to put me off...

via TP Forums for iPhone
 
dfawkes said:
... if I nicked 2k of stuff I'd expect a lot more than 80 hours community service ...
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That's interesting. If I had nicked £2k of stuff then I wouldn't have had any idea (before today!) what kind of sentence to expect. But I guess it's probably best all round if we don't ask where you acquired that kind of knowledge... ;)
 
Incidentally folks, keyword stuffing isn't received particularly well by Google, so we probably don't want to over do it. I think we've established quite satisfactorily who we're taking about now. (Thanks for the moral support though!!)
 
So how did Adam Gardner, the photographer from Essex convicted for stealing a lens from you, steal said lens? Did he stitch you up on these here forums buy not paying for it? I think I missed something? Or did he aquire it by literally stealing it from your property?
 
clicktor said:
So how did Adam Gardner, the photographer from Essex convicted for stealing a lens from you, steal said lens? Did he stitch you up on these here forums buy not paying for it? I think I missed something? Or did he aquire it by literally stealing it from your property?
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Stewart hires lenses
 
StewartR said:
That's interesting. If I had nicked £2k of stuff then I wouldn't have had any idea (before today!) what kind of sentence to expect. But I guess it's probably best all round if we don't ask where you acquired that kind of knowledge... ;)
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LOL!! Good point, I have no idea what seems right! I come from the old school and always thought the punishment fitted the crime - 80 hours for 2k is £25/hour, not a bad wage and not the most massive disincentive in the world IMO! :)
 
Hope you don't mind, but I've posted this on a number of other forums I post at. If you'd like me to remove it just let me know and I will.
 
I wonder if Martin Day Events or the SWPP would be interested to know of his "indiscretions".

Presumably the SWPP have some sort of professional integrity policy?
 
Glad it worked out Stewart:)
Glad he got caught that was a really low thing he did
apart from the disonesty I cant believe that someone would be so stupid as to hire a lens then try to sell it on a Photography forum
Pete
 
Glad you have it sorted Stewart
 
nice to see 1 offender caught.

this thread has to close though, sorry
 
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