I (22F) have video evidence of my (19M) younger brother who lives with me stealing my property Location: Colorado USA. Backstory, my younger brother has had issues with stealing for years now. Liquor around the house has mysteriously vanished, several of my figurines have gone missing, books of mine have been hidden, supplements and pills have emptied suspiciously fast. The issue has gotten so bad we have multiple security cameras inside the house facing the door to my bedroom, the front door to the house, and even my mother’s room. My mother has witnessed personally through footage my brother stealing alcohol an going into my bedroom for suspicious amounts of time, her boyfriend has also confronted my brother for his supplements and his bottles ending up in his trash. He is completely shut off and will ignore any attempt at calm civil discussion, I’ve tried to confront him personally multiple times but he will simply lock himself in his room (which he purchased a door knob with a handle that requires a key so we cannot get our property back from him until he decides to throw it away or give it back without apology) I’m exhausted, there seems to be no way to get through to him and there is no deterrent to get him to stop the behavior. Obvious cameras don’t do anything, telling him not to doesn’t do anything, threatening eviction doesn’t do anything. As a collector my figures mean more to me than their monetary value, but their monetary value isn’t exactly nothing. Most recently as I was redecorating after AX and hanging new merchandise I noticed a very large kotobukiya scale figure was missing. This figure is quite large so it would be easy to spot if it had simply fallen, but it was gone entirely. This figure is well over 100 dollars and while isn’t impossible to find, is definitely inconvenient to replace. In addition to the figure being missing several of my manga (many of which vintage or out of print) had been tampered with. They were all halfhazardly shoved into bookshelves they do not fit in among series they do not belong to (this is a behavior he has shown numerous times in the past) theres now minor damage on the spine and folded pages on previously mint condition volumes. While I do not have a camera proving he tampered with my books in a court of law, I do have a camera showing him enter my room while I’m gone at work, and him very clearly leaving the room with the figure in hand. I have proof the figure is mine beyond it being in my room, I have several receipts from when I ordered it with my name and card information as well as the date purchased, with this proof even if the value of the item isn’t a lot would I have a criminal case if I went to the police? Asking him to return the items is pointless and I fear that the only way to ensure it would not happen again and to maybe get my figure back is to charge him for theft of my property.
Comments
NAL, but potentially but Police do not like to get involved in domestic disputes. They will probably say it is a civil matter if the items are relatively low value.
$100 in lost states is a misdemeanor at most.
You can report him at any time. You don’t need to have a full and complete criminal case to report him.
But, even if you do have a full and complete criminal case, the police don’t have to take it. There’s no way to make them.
Can you put a lock on your own door?