clock - face, gears, etc. (we had the clock disassembled into three parts) - and new faucets, 2 sets of golf clubs, an antique copper tub, a North Face tent, air compressor and other items. We couldn’t prove he took them, and for months never suspected. Over time, we had 3 total felony charges against the guy (also a fraud charge - fake invoices, and we found my wife’s golf clubs at his garage sale).

My wife spent 1-2 hrs a day searching, googling, etc looking for the clock face. It was Gary Sullivan that encouraged her to keep trying. The guy that stole it, sold it on ebay to a cole for in Fredericksburg, who then sold it to a guy in Princeton, NJ. In the end, our sleuthing revealed the s their, first buyer and final buyer (neither buyer suspected it was stolen, but knew what they had and hence the value). Eventually, when I found the guy in NJ (British guy, worked in Manhattan), we coordinated to take the clock from him at a FedEx Office in Manhattan, as we had already planned to be there for Christmas (he literally cried during the turnover). We shipped it to a guy in Winchester for repair (had minor damage) , cleaning, etc. This guy and his father had been doing White House clocks for over 40yrs and was suggested to us by Gary Sullivan.

Police arrested the thief after we provided eBay evidence (had to provide eBay with a warrant). When arrested, he provided 3 different stories in how he had obtained the clock - one of which was we were mean people and never paid him - never mind I had every invoice (including the fake ones) and cancelled checks all dated with pin a couple days of the invoices and been found guilty of that felony. In the end, he fully confessed. We even received $4K in restitution - for repair, reimbursing the NJ man and some transportation and shipping costs.

Later that year, he was woefully behind on his restitution payments when he started beating up his Filipino mail order “wife” (they weren’t married but had 2 kids). He went to jail for a period and a condition of his release was to make complete restitution to us (not sure where he got the cash, but we’re we’re made whole).

This is a long, long story that used to take me hours to tell. We had run ins with him later, but I think he has left town now.

Trivia/Factoid: when I found the final evidence online we needed (a feedback page on eBay) Mrs Fr8Dog and I were watching 40 Year Old Virgin 😎👍🏻