I was robbed.

[Whitewolf7]

We are camped on a well-known forest road in Flagstaff. This is my 2nd summer in Flag, and never was safety on my radar. Left camp at noon, came back at 4pm to find everything gone. I was camped on a main FR, out in the open, not hidden away. I travel in a van, with minimal outdoor gear. One of those items happens to be a solar panel. Small in comparison, but worked hard for it. Coconino Sheriff was very attentive and professional. He took my statement, and one from a neighbor who claimed he saw an individual walk off with my items. Within 30 min, the Sheriff called to say all my items were recovered at a campsite further in. The campsite was a vehicle with temp tags, man and woman, and the only gear they had set up was my stuff. They arrested the man who claimed he thought my site was abandoned. Now I'm left with this feeling. If I wanted to look over my shoulder all day, I would be a city person.

 

[Blanch]

I was robbed in March of 2017 at Anza Borrego State Park during the super bloom. They stole my generator while I was in my TT. They must have been watching me and then grabbed it after dark. Anyhow, it took a while for me to feel comfortable again.


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[AMGS3]

Man that stinks. Did you get your stuff back WhiteWolf or do they need to keep it as evidence?

Kinda makes you wonder about the mindset of a person who would be daring enough to walk away with your camp, especially in front of someone watching them. Even if I suspected that someone had abandoned their campsite I'd be too timid to take anything. What if I was wrong and that person came back? Too many real trigger happy people to risk my safety trying to steal someone else's belongings.

And yeah, that was a poor excuse. I don't think he really thought you were gone, it's probably just the best excuse he could come up with at the time.

~angie



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[highdesertranger]

bummer, but at least you got your stuff back. I would be very wary about leaving anything unattended close to a large city. highdesertranger

 

[sreesekelley]

The loss of your peace of mind was the most valuable thing they took. Sorry to hear of your experience.

 

[Benjamin Dejo]

I was jarred to see the subject of your thread and as a victim of robbery twice I know how frightening and serious an event it can be. However after reading your post I was relieved to see that you were instead the victim of theft. Robbery requires a face to face confrontation with use of force or coercion.

I'm glad everything worked out and your stuff was returned.

Guy

yep, no in person force or threat of force makes it a burglary, not a robbery.   Result is similar, stuff gone...

nice that he got it back.

 

[Whitewolf7]

I was jarred to see the subject of your thread and as a victim of robbery twice I know how frightening and serious an event it can be. However after reading your post I was relieved to see that you were instead the victim of theft. Robbery requires a face to face confrontation with use of force or coercion.

I'm glad everything worked out and your stuff was returned.

Guy

Thank you, you are correct.

 

[Whitewolf7]

Man that stinks. Did you get your stuff back WhiteWolf or do they need to keep it as evidence?

Kinda makes you wonder about the mindset of a person who would be daring enough to walk away with your camp, especially in front of someone watching them. Even if I suspected that someone had abandoned their campsite I'd be too timid to take anything. What if I was wrong and that person came back? Too many real trigger happy people to risk my safety trying to steal someone else's belongings.

And yeah, that was a poor excuse. I don't think he really thought you were gone, it's probably just the best excuse he could come up with at the time.

~angie



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Got it all back within the hour.

 

[Whitewolf7]

yep, no in person force or threat of force makes it a burglary, not a robbery.   Result is similar, stuff gone...

nice that he got it back.

She. And my young daughter as well. They took her bright pink child's chair that any adult would get stuck in.

 

[Canine]

I'm a camp host this year and I have a view of one of the campgrounds below me. Saw a couple guys parked across from a fellow camper who I knew was gone for a couple of days on his horse. The guys were putting stuff in the back of their rig. I raced down there only to find they were fishing. Thank goodness. I didn't want a confrontation.

While theft does happen and is never totally preventable, it is quite unusual in certain areas and absolutely guaranteed in other areas. I hope after you get over the theft that you can keep things in context and keep peace of mind. A relative peace of mind anyway.

 

[tripper]

Last time I was at A1 road in Flagstaff I saw a young couple (20 or so yrs old) in a beater sedan trolling around the campgrounds, they looked like tweakers (rail thin, tattoed, and unkempt) and just kept driving around. I called the sheriffs on them as that couple had no camping gear but drove all over for a couple of hours the camping areas, obviously not campers or hikers.

It is rare to get ripped off, but some areas like just outside of Flagstaff are so close to towns that the local druggies have easy access.

Generators get ripped off all the time by professional thieves, normally quartzite type areas with heavy populations of well equipped RVers. They hit up the more populated area where the older people chain their generators to their trucks on the fifth wheels. I do not know why people think a chain or cable lock protects a generator, it only takes 10 seconds to cut.

I have never had anything stolen, I sure hope it isn't going to be a problem in the future.

 

[USExplorer]

I got my truck (and most everything I owned) cleaned out in on a road trip in Mexico July of '17. I was getting careless, leaving a T-bone in the proverbial dog pound and daring the dogs not to touch it. Well they did. Didn't hurt my truck though. THAT was a surprise, seeing as I had brand new tires on it.

It makes no sense to lose your "peace of mind" when you are no more likely to be robbed after the robbery than before it. One robbery does not change the odds of a robbery occurring, unless of course you no longer have anything valuable with you. Then you are less likely to be robbed. I don't believe in the ostrich mentality, burying one's head in the sand and believing that nothing bad can happen to oneself until it does, then freaking out and having a mental breakdown. Our lives and our safety are never guaranteed to us anywhere. Accept it and move beyond fear.

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

One of the things I like about the cargo trailer conversion is how well it locks up. There are also locks for the hitch. We will have 4 windows - 3 of them will be too small for getting in or unlocking. The larger one is big enough for an escape hatch.

We had a really nice sleigh bed with cast iron grapevines running in the head and foot boards. I cut out 3 which will fit across the window and I'm going to have them soldered onto a bar that I can place across the window from the inside to prevent a person coming through the window even if they break it. The window shows through a lot of it but I'll still remove it unless we leave camp or there are bears or scary situations.

 

[Whitewolf7]

Ironic...apparently still an issue at A-1.

Last time I was at A1 road in Flagstaff I saw a young couple (20 or so yrs old) in a beater sedan trolling around the campgrounds, they looked like tweakers (rail thin, tattoed, and unkempt) and just kept driving around.  I called the sheriffs on them as that couple had no camping gear but drove all over for a couple of hours the camping areas, obviously not campers or hikers.

It is rare to get ripped off, but some areas like just outside of Flagstaff are so close to towns that the local druggies have easy access.

Generators get ripped off all the time by professional thieves, normally quartzite type areas with heavy populations of well equipped RVers.  They hit up the more populated area where the older people chain their generators to their trucks on the fifth wheels.  I do not know why people think a chain or cable lock protects a generator, it only takes 10 seconds to cut.

I have never had anything stolen, I sure hope it isn't going to be a problem in the future.