Didn't know these felonies not prosecuted if the perp knows the "secrets". (Houston: sale)

[groovamos]

My home in Houston got burglarized back in August, my loss at about $12,000 including some heirloom jewelry. About a month ago a couple of items, woodwind musical instruments worth $2500 total, turned up in pawn shops. I assumed that whoever turned the items into fast cash would become a suspect for either the burglary or at least receipt of stolen property. But no he gets a pass, you know why? Because some 3-4 weeks went by between the burglary and the sale to the pawn shop. Seems like this is the logic behind secret #1: since a burglar would probably want cash even faster, this guy can't be the burglar. OK fine, unless the burglar knows secret #1: that if he waits a month before the sale, he will not be a suspect in the burglary.

Well then there is at least the fallback on the receipt of stolen property statute right? A way to arrest the guy and at least get some questions in his face right? Wrong. They (Harris County DA) are just not going to go to the trouble. No arrest warrant for this felony. Which is secret #2. The secret is or maybe we should just say the joke is (since this really can't be all that secret) the uselessness of the statutes.

I think instead of the DA's office having these guys figured out, it is quite possibly the other way around.

[groovamos]

I had heard from the investigator the number of days that went by and wrote "weeks", and it was actually 4 days after the theft when the items were pawned. The woman at the head of the DA's office has instituted a policy that if items are pawned more than 2 days after the report of the theft of such, the person will be deemed innocent of any felony. My investigator tells me Harris County is the only jurisdiction anywhere, that HPD knows of, where a rule like this is followed. Watch for Lisa Falkenberg to cover this if I can convince her.

The woman at the top: Office of District Attorney, Harris County, Texas, Patricia R. Lykos