Drunk, Robbed but Revenge is Coming

Now here is a story from my Friday night that I won't forget in a very long time ... Drunk, Robbed and left for dead - but revenge is coming.

After starting my new job with Vodafone last week, Friday night was a company drinks outing to initiate me to the new team. It was a great start to the night, drinks and quality seafood by the waterfront in my new town. The night was going very well!

After dinner had finished, a few colleagues headed home (including the boss) and some others invited me back to their house to continue drinking. Being in a new town, this was a great chance to get to know my work mates more and meet new people.

So we headed back to their house for some drinks and the fun continued; it's about 10pm by this time and we had all had a bucket of alcohol. After our beers with seafood, we had now moved on to the wine!

Anyway, at about midnight - some of the guys suggested we head into town to hit the clubs. So we ordered a cab, and headed into town to kick-on. (It was now about midnight as we headed into the centre of town)

After being shown around to a few clubs, and drinking some more .... I was REAAAAAL drunk. Some of my drinking pals were escorted out of the club for drinking too much - so I was pretty much on my own anyway.

So, being drunk and being about 1 hour from home by foot. I decided to try and hail a cab to get me home. I quickly detoured via McDonalds to get a Big Mac and beat off some of the alcohol. I really should have grabbed a Mt Franklin Water or something too.. I was just so drunk.

I couldn't manage to get a cab, they weren't stopping. Most were full.

So I just kept walking, it's a quiet town and I felt totally safe. After getting about 10 minutes into my journey, I just felt so drunk and tired - I stupidly sat down near a park and nodded off to sleep. I thought if I dozed off for an hour, I would maybe feel better to find my feet and get more of the way home.

Stupid move of course! After dozing off to sleep, I suddenly felt my hand being pulled. (I had fallen asleep with my Mobile Cell Phone in my hand, and someone had taken it from me!) Being so drunk, I didn't actually stir, or awake fully until the hand was out of my grasp. After waking fully, I realised wot had happened and panicked! (Here I am, my FIRST WEEK of work, with a work cell phone and I get stupidly drunk and the phone is stolen)

Maaaan, I snapped out of pretty quick. I ran on to the main road, and flagged down the first car that passed. (My gut feeling was that the guys who took the phone from my hand, couldn't have been too far on foot). The guy that picked me up in his car was awesome. He quickly drove up to a few teenagers in the area and started questioning them about the theft.

Still no luck though. I was so embarrassed. Drunk, stupid and losing my work phone I had only had for a few days.

The guy in the car dropped me home and I asked for his details so I could visit him the next day and thank him in person. He agreed, and I called the cops to tell them the whole story.

Being a small town, the cops were pretty good. They came immediately round (It was 4.30am in the morning by the time) and the cops took me back to the scene and started doing some sniffing around.

Now instead of canceling my cell phone account immediately, I took the chance and I left the phone live on the network for another 12 hours as I went to bed to sleep off the drunk state.

In the morning, I logged on to my Vodafone account online to check my call register. I could see that my last call was made at 3.18am (I didn't remember making the call, but I recognized the number) - BUT at 4am there was a call made on my phone, to another local cell phone that I didn't recognize. Finally, a lucky break - the stupid thief had made a call from my stolen cell phone that could link him to the crime.

I drove into the Police Station the next day and gave them the phone number. This time round, the Police weren't too interested in helping me. Maybe it was because I got a different Officer, I am not sure. Either way - The Police said they tried calling the number I had given them and it just went to voicemail.

I wasn't going to give up this easily.

So I took the number home and started planning how I could call it and get the information I wanted without spooking the thief and forcing him to ditch the evidence (including his untraceable cell phone)

Here in New Zealand, there is no ID required to purchase a Cell Phone and get a Pre-Paid account. Meaning criminals can simply ditch their phones and assigned numbers when they feel the heat.

Anyway, despite my Australian accent being slightly different to the locals - I phoned the number that showed up my account (as called by the thief after stealing my phone) and I pretended to be a Police Officer.

A girl answered the phone, I guessed she was in her early 20's. I introduced myself as a local Police Officer and proceeded to tell her that there was a homicide (murder) in a local park last night and the Police are making inquiries about a man that was bashed and robbed. I said that a call had been made on the dead mans phone, to HER number.

Well, to say this girl freaked out was an understatement. She really got scared, and when I had her scared - I quickly said, "Look, we need to come and ask you questions immediately to clear this up"

She gave me her name, and her workplace - the local Shell Gas Station of all places! Anyway, so I go down to the Police Station and tell them the news. (I didn't tell them the whole story, about how I impersonated an Officer, but they got the idea I think)

So the Police have made contact with her, and she has given up some details as to the guy that called her from my phone at 4am. It seems we only have a first name at the moment, but in a small town like this - we are only days away from revenge I think.

It's been a very long few days! Losing the phone, massively hung over and the chase. I really wanted to have the phone back before tomorrows return to work, so I could avoid the discussion about having the phone stolen while I was shockingly drunk.

UPDATE: Monday December 3rd: I visited the Police Station for an update on progress. Sadly the Police didn't seem too motivated to move quickly on the matter. They said they would get round to interviewing the people in the next few days. I was disappointed, as I felt every day that passed would mean less chance of seeing the phone again.

So today in my lunch hour, I rocked up to the Shell Petrol Station (Dressed in my work suit! which was perfect) - Anyway, I asked for the girl named Tracy (Who I had identified on the phone by my Police impersonation earlier) after being directed to her, I introduced myself as a Telephone Fraud Investigator and asked for the full details of her male friend who phoned her from the stolen phone on Friday night. She seemed pretty keen to have the situation dealt with, she gave me the name, phone number and address of the guy in question. BINGO. I am getting real close now.

Anyway, I drive around to the house (about 10 minutes drive from town) and check the place out. Located in a real seedy part of town, it looked pretty damn scary. (Hey I am a computer nerd playing detective, not Rambo!) I called the landline number and got a female, and while the man I was after wasn't home - she gave me the phone number of his cell phone.

I tried to think of a creative way to approach the cell phone call to the guy. I didn't want to spook him and make him ditch the phone or go into hiding.

I took a risk. I called him and played the situation down. I said "Hi there, I am the drunk guy who lost his phone on Friday night. I've been told you have the phone for me?"

He paused. Then replied, yes he has the phone. He said he didn't take it, but knew who did and would return it to me tomorrow morning. (I didn't want to go to his place for the meeting - so I said I would call around 9am and we could meet near the city)

I am thinking a busy spot would be good. (Hopefully this guy won't go postal, but makes sense to pick a crowded spot tomorrow morning)

Man, if I actually get this phone back - I myself will be totally surprised. I may have been drunk and I pretty much put myself in a dangerous position; certainly it could have been worse (They could have bashed me or put the boot in while I was dead drunk!) But in the end, it just shows - if you want something bad enough and do your homework, it's possible. Just like Woody Allen said "80 percent of success is just showing up." And I think these mofo's are getting sick of the nerd boy detective calling witnesses, doing surveillance and just plain annoying the shite outta them! :)