Dear John: I cannot find anyone to help me. I am hoping you will.
I had someone staying at my home, and that person stole my jewelry and pawned it. I discovered it was gone 18 days after it was pawned and immediately reported it to the police.
About a week later, the police showed me the jewelry that was pawned, which I identified as only half of what was stolen. The pawnshop claimed that the rest of the jewelry was melted down.
I do not know what the rules are that must be followed by the pawnshop. After consulting a few law firms, I found that no one else seems to know the rules, and they were not interested in taking on this matter.
The jewelry that was pawned was platinum, gold and diamonds (four earrings, a diamond heart necklace, three diamond rings, etc.).
Do I have a case against the pawn shop to recover the monetary value of the jewelry? How do I go about doing this? Unfortunately, I will not be able to recover my 56-year-old wedding ring and my mother’s 80-year-old engagement and wedding rings, but I feel if the pawnshop did something wrong, no one else should be victimized.
The rest of the jewelry has not been recovered. It included watches, a pearl necklace and other things that could not be melted down. The thief has been arrested, and a trial is pending.
Any help or direction you can give me in this matter would be greatly appreciated. F.A.
Dear F.A.: That’s a very sad story. Sorry for the losses.
And while I don’t know the circumstances under which the crook was your guest, it should also be a warning to anyone who is allowing people to stay in their house under some sharing arrangement.
Hide the goodies and pray they don’t burn your place down. And you had better check your homeowners insurance policy before you enter into these arrangements.
Now to your question: The contact in Albany for the National Pawnbrokers Association is Eric Modell, who is president of the Collateral Loanbrokers Association of New York. His e-mail address is eric@modellfinancial.com.
The National Pawnbrokers Association can be reached at (817) 337-8830. Its address is 891 Keller Parkway, Suite 220 Keller, Texas 76248.
In New York, the department that handles pawnbrokers is the NYS Department of Consumer Protection. The hotline is (518) 474-8583 or (800) 697-1220
If you aren’t in New York and are looking for the pawnbroker contact in your state, go to NationalPawnBrokers.org. At the center of that page is a highlighted space called Pawn Point Map. Click on the button for your state, and you’ll find out the organizations that regulate pawnbrokers.
In New York, for instance, it says: “In the city of New York such licenses may be issued by the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs. In other (NY) areas, licenses must be obtained from the mayor of the city or licensing authority of the local governing body.”
I hope that helps. I have contacted Eric Modell on your behalf but I think you also should — and probably would like to — reach out to all these people yourself.
Modell told me that he doesn’t think your stuff was technically “pawned,” which would mean it was given to a pawn shop, the thief given money as a loan and the goods recoverable when the loan was repaid.
“They were more likely sold to a pawnbroker who holds a second-hand dealer license, or other secondhand dealer,” says Modell. “Pawnbrokers are not allowed to purchase items from the public unless they hold a secondhand dealer license. Pawns and buys are very different transactions.”
If the items were purchased, the broker only had to hold them for 15 days. If they were pawned, under New York law, they have to be held for “four months plus 30 days” before they can be melted or disposed of.
Pawnbrokers, of course, aren’t supposed to buy stolen items. And if you can prove this one did, you might have a case.
“The thief who stole the merchandise is solely responsible for the resulting disposition of the items,” says Modell.
And he’s probably going to a place where his family jewels will be in jeopardy.
Good luck and let me know how you make out.
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