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Pawn shops stop getting rooked Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Peter Schulzke of Medford Pawn says that guns are the second-most sold or pawned item in his shop, with jewelry holding the top spot. In chess game with thieves, vendors, police urge defense By SARAH LEMON With 1,000 items pawned or sold each week to about 20 Medford pawn shops and jewelry exchanges, it may seem a hopeless task to recover stolen property. But those who deal in second-hand goods say that in the quest for purloined property, a picture is worth a thousand words. Including illustrations with lists of lost or stolen jewelry is the best way for police and unwitting buyers to recognize and recover it, said Carl Lorenz of Rogue Valley Coin and Jewelry Exchange. Jewelry is the most commonly pawned or sold item, so it can be hard to identify without a picture, said Peter Schulzke, manager of Medford Pawn. Schulzke recommends taking photos of jewelry and either photocopying the pictures or putting them on a floppy disk (for digital camera owners). Ring sizes should be kept as well, a feature that can help identify what might be an otherwise common piece of jewelry. But even if they aren't one-of-a-kind, many goods are identifiable by serial numbers and model numbers. Guns, computers, electronics, guitars, high-end tools and expensive watches all usually have serial numbers, said Brandon Schulzke of Medford Pawn. Keeping a record of these numbers is essential, he said. Serial and model numbers on a stolen Rolex helped local gemologists identify the watch to Medford police when a theft suspect tried to sell it in the area last Friday. The watch, with an estimated value of $36,500, was reported stolen from a Portland jeweler in July. Thanks to a fortuitous phone call that Medford police made to the gemologist who had the watch in his hand, the Rolex was recovered and a suspect quickly arrested. Serial numbers can be tampered with or obscured, so the property should be engraved with the owner's driver's license number in a place where a thief is unlikely to see it on first inspection, said Medford Police detective Tim Lytle. If police officers see goods they suspect are stolen, they can run the engraved license number and possibly track down its proper owner, he said. Thefts or burglaries should always be first reported to police, who can also act as mediators when a citizen tries to reclaim an item from a pawn shop, Lytle said. Police talk to Medford pawn and second-hand shops about twice a week and investigate roughly a case per week with the businesses' assistance, Lytle said. The city's ordinances governing pawn and second-hand shops not only allow police to keep track of transactions but also creates a working relationship that helps police recover a lot of items. "Pawn shops around here would tell me that business is so good, they just don't want to be involved with (buying) stolen property," Lytle said. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.