One of my friggin kis is swiping money from me!

I generally leave my wallet with acash all over the place and never count what I have, just a general idea.

Lately, I have been thinking I am missing some $$$.

100 bill one day, a 20 here and there.

This past weekend I told my wife(she always tells me when she takes money) and explained to her the different times I have been missing some.

Anyway, I started counting every night 3 day ago, on Monday, and wrote the total down prior to sleeping.

Last night, I had $156.00. This morning, I have 116.00

So I have eliminated any friends that come over and narrowed it down to my son and step-son.

I'm more disappointed than upset. I swiped $$ from my parents to, so now I know how they felt.

I just want to stop them before it becomes a habit.

Last night, they were beggin me for $$ to buy Pizza for their friends.

My son I know was broke, becasue if he has it, he spends it. Teh step-son, on the other hand has money saved and will not touch it for food, drink, etc....

I could always start breaking stuff that they treasure until they admit it, then reimburse the innocent one.

I just need to know.

How about an elaborate trap?

Suggestions are welocme and appreciated.

Any ideas on how to pin the culprit down, short of killing them?

__________________
Enough about me, how are you doing?

Have you actually sat them down and talked to them? Might be a good idea to let them know your suspicions and what will be the consequences if it continues and if they get caught. Seems like some plain simple values need to be redefined.

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A nannycam..................a miniture camera pointed on where you leave the money. hooked to a hidden VCR .........................its positive proof............but only show them the proof if they lie about it....I would give them a chance to admit to it when confronted............In a calm manner of course. In this way you don't have to look at everyone as the guilty culprit....2 of the 3 are likely innocent.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I agree about the values being redefined as they are both good kids.

That being said, asking them will probably not work. They'll deny it unless I have proof.

I was thinking that I might take away there favorite things, like Ipods, video games, DVD's, etc... and ban them to their rooms until someone confesses with the threat of destruction to those things if they don't.

Just a thought.

Thanks

__________________
Enough about me, how are you doing?

Are there any types of video cameras that I can hook up to the cpu via a USB port that tape onto the hard drive?

I usually leave my wallet on my desk and a vcr would be difficult to place in the area w/o raising suspicion.

__________________
Enough about me, how are you doing?

My wife is completely innocent. She always leaves me notes if she needs petty cash and takes it.

It has to be one of those little bastards that live here.

I've been paying attention lately to the late evening hours(11PM) becasue their friends are usually gone by then, this way i have eliminated them.

They are both up earlier than I am, so I narrowed it down to it having happened this morning. I counted prior to going to bed last night.

__________________
Enough about me, how are you doing?

I bought a camera on E-bay that was disguised as a cell phone that transmitted the image to a reciever (like a cordless phone) then to TV, VCR etc. Very cool used to catch thief at work. As I recall it was <$40.
Now I use it to watch the thermometer on the smoker outside hooked to input #2 on TV with PIP.

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http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41969&item=5949706782&rd=1

this will accept any standard spy cam.................. there are a lot of them up on ebay.....

This way you don't bring down your wrath on the wrong people.

it will let you know who to focus on.............if they continue to lie then when all else fails show them...............after a healthy grounding.
best part is it can run 24X7 and recycle the same hard drive space....and no problem forgetting to rewind a tape.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Just empty your wallet every night and leave a note in there saying, you have been caught, there is no money but your fingerprint is here so back away from my moooney. Take this card if I know you will never again do this and lets forget about it. Or I will come after you with a dull knife at night and murder you very slowly and painfully.

Thats not cool, im 20 now and when i didnt have a job i would take cash from my parents, now more then a few bucks or there change. I would be pissed, alot of people i know would steel from there parents to buy some drugs. Maybe there smoking the cheeba? I would narrow it down a little more and when you are 100% shure on who it is, i would lay down the the law.

Stealing from parents is way uncool, particularly since you would likely give it to them if they asked........

Get the interface card a spy cam and find out who it is.............lay down the law and make them remember there are consiquinces for their actions.....

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Leave some counterfit money.

While the video camera setup would provide positive proof, it's probably not worth the time and effort.

Just get some printer's ink and liberally apply it to about 15 one dollar bills. Put all the bills in the wallet. Leave the wallet in the normal place. When the thief goes through it, there will be a telltale residue on his hands.

If he is quite smart, however, he may find some acetone to remove it before you can confront him.

There may be something better than printer's ink, such as the dye markers that are used to catch bank robbers, however, it might not be so easy to obtain it.

Can't you just put your wallet in a safe place, or are you determined to catch this person? After you were stolen from once, why did you continue to leave it lying around?

becasue he will be looking at both kids with suspician....and end up penalizing the innocent one as well as the guilty one........plus being caught and forced to admit it might straighten out the kid before he does anything worse.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche