Free Republic

On Tuesday, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the unrest on January 6th. Convicted of seditious conspiracy, Tarrio, who was not present at the Capitol, pleaded for leniency but received none. (For more reporting and background on Tarrio's case, click here) [link included in article] The same wasn't true for a Black Lives Matter protester who set fire to a pawn shop after looting it in May 2020. Montez Lee, who appeared on video proclaiming that he was going to "burn this ***** down" ended up killing Oscar Stewart, who...

According to court documents, on May 28, 2020, Montez Terriel Lee, 26, along with others, broke into the Max It Pawn Shop on East Lake Street in Minneapolis. Surveillance video footage showed Lee pouring a fire accelerant around the pawn shop and lighting the accelerant on fire. The fire destroyed the building. A second video showed Lee standing in front of the burning pawn shop and Lee could be heard saying, “[expletive] this place. We’re gonna burn this [expletive] down.”

Investigators are searching for a man and woman accused of theft after they took a television from the shelf at an Algiers pawn shop and sold it back to the store, according to the New Orleans Police Department. The duo, identified by the NOPD as Don Adams, 32, and Dana Francois-Carter, 38, was captured on surveillance camera during the Thursday afternoon (May 31) theft, police said. The theft occurred about 5:20 p.m. at a pawn shop in the 1600 block of Newton Street. Adams and Francois-Carter entered the shop, and then Carter walked to the electronics aisle and took a...

As regards nothing political, I made my weekly stroll through the local pawn shops today. Mondays are when they put all the guns they recovered from recent boating accidents and I sometimes pick up a good deal. There was a woman in one trying to pawn a small safe. She didn't have the combination so couldn't get open. Apparently she had called ahead to ask if they took safes and was told yes. She was screaming to heaven about all the work she did getting it there and they better give her some money for it. The guy behind the...

The majority of the art was collected by Gloria Giffords, former Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords mother, who says she hopes people will see the art as an inspiration.

<p>NEW YORK (AP) — A 16-year-old sneaker-loving teen is using the footwear to get a different kind of kick — he’s opened a pawnshop that uses high-end athletic shoes as collateral.</p> <p>Chase Reed and his father, Troy Reed, opened Sneaker Pawn on Lenox Avenue in Harlem looking to capitalize on America’s multibillion-dollar athletic footwear market and the high prices sneakers can get being re-sold.</p>

A New Zealand man who bought a second-hand MP3 player that contained U.S. military files on personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq handed it over to U.S. officials on Wednesday, New Zealand media reported. Chris Ogle, 29, bought the $10 MP3 at a thrift shop in Oklahoma but when he plugged it in discovered it contained 60 U.S. military files ... *snip* The files contained the names and personal details of American soldiers, including ones who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing, said One News.

People Pulling Up to Pawnshops Today Are Driving Cadillacs and BMWs Well-to-Do Turn to Last-Resort Lenders; Putting Up Diamonds, Dumpsters as Collateral By GARY FIELDS PHILADELPHIA -- At Society Hill Loan, a pawnshop in a middle-class neighborhood here, a steady rain fell outside as a fashionably dressed young man parked his Cadillac Escalade outside. Looking around warily, he came in to speak with Nat Leonard, co-owner of the store. [Nat Leonard] The visitor was a 29-year-old engineer who was laid off earlier this year from one of the local chemical companies. Since then, he's been cleaning planes at the airport...

Boom times for American pawnbrokers as rich hit hard times Chris Ayres “I need $3,000,” Tito Vazquez, 45, says as he looks at his gleaming Harley-Davidson motorcycle. “But the economy's a mess right now and my credit cards are all maxed out.” Which brings him here, to Collateral Lender, a few blocks east of ultra-posh Rodeo Drive, in Beverly Hills. In short, it is a pawn shop. Like most pawn shops in Los Angeles - home to not one but two failed mortgage lenders, Countrywide Financial and IndyMac Bank - it is doing a roaring trade. For Mr Vazquez, that...

It seems to me that every change in the economy brings opportunity. So then, if the economy collapses (recession or depression), what opportunities are there? Open for discussion....

Boston Teen Arrested in McAllen Break-In An 18-year-old Massachusetts man has been charged today with breaking into a McAllen pawn shop and stealing handguns. An officer found Atbin Hoshang Forghan of Canton, Massachusetts, outside Danny's Pawn Shop before dawn. Forghan allegedly was carrying stolen munitions, a bulletproof vest and a switchblade. Forghan was arraigned today on charges of burglary and possessing prohibited weapons. Bond is 550-thousand dollars. Investigators say Forghan traveled to McAllen by bus from the Boston area earlier this week and he had visited the pawn shop. McAllen police also contacted Homeland Security officials. An investigator with the...