Thief in my house.

Last week I ordered some silver bars from APMEX. Saturday morning I went to put them in my gunsafe and found that I had been robbed.

I have a wooden cigar box that I have kept my silver in for several years. Most of the coins were pre-64 junk. Dollars down to dimes with several "new" silver dollars thrown in. When each of my kids (4) was born I would buy several dollars with their birth years on them as a possible way to generate their interest later on. I've been buying coins since 1990.

Most of the coins were bought off  Ebay and from local dealers. There was one $5 Canadian piece my (deceased) mother in law gave me for one of my kids at Christmas years ago, a mercury dime I got from a vending machine at work and a few halves I got at a Family Dollar store when the person in front of me paid with them years ago. Last weeks purchase of bars was my first ever non coin silver purchase.

Anyway, I picked the box up off the shelf and knew it was light. Several rolls each of quarters, dimes, halves and dollars isn't light. All of my rolls are gone. All but a couple of the "birth year" dollars included. Some of the coins were wrapped in the little cardboard protectors collectors use and some of those were left. Why, I do not know. Maybe the thief grew a sudden kernel of a conscience?  Doubt it, I figure they were left to get later on.

I suppose they were taken one day when I had gotten something from the safe to go shoot out in the yard. There are 2 "suspects," both known to lie and steal, both sons of mine, 1 took my wife's wedding set and a couple other rings, last year. We found 2 of the rings, THE diamond missing from the big one (not the original set, the original set had more in common with Cracker Jacks than diamonds and gold.) He said he found the rings in our driveway and figured they were TREASURE! and pawned them in town. We had the diamond ring repaired at a large out of pocket expense AFTER insurance.

The wife doesn't want to kick the one out of the house for fear of how he may end up. My pointing out that we can't afford to keep going like this, in constant fear of large losses, and that he has ALREADY mostly "ended up" doesn't seem to make a dent. The other son doesn't live "with us," right now he is sponging off my father in law but he does visit with our grandson.

 I have no way of knowing which one took the coins. I am thinking of offering a $100 cash reward, coupled with "staying in the will" for proof of who did it. The "will" isn't much but it does have a few firearms. Until I figure who the guilty party is I'm probably cutting both out and off.

The loss of the $$$ is bothersome (A LOT!!) but it hurts more to know that I raised 2 of the kind of people I despise the most, that I cannot walk out of the room without locking anything of value up so it will be there when I get back. I suppose I better look into security for my other things like ammo and tools now. Instead of a new rifle or pistol I'll be buying gang boxes.

How do you raise a thief? I'm sure it's easy if you set out to do it, but how do you manage to accidentally do it? I made both of them give back extra change when they were little. I always talked (lectured) on morals and such when alone with any one of them in the truck or elsewhere. I've never stolen anything so I couldn't have done that in front of them.

 I don't understand. I tried to do all the right stuff and ended up with 2 people I would not speak to in public once I got to know them if I say, met them at work or school or wherever. They both talk a good game up front. They both dislike Obama and liberals. They both sound just like me, according to other people. So.......do other people think I'm a thief and they've just never caught me? Or do my kids only steal from me? Doubtful.

It's depressing, in many, many different ways.

This is a gang box or job box. A large metal box for the safekeeping of tools and such on construction sites. When a Master lock is put on it the hasp of the lock is unreachable with bolt cutters. Full of ammo and or tools, you would need a forklift to move one.