Thief Caught on Camera! | Statute of Limitations hosted by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino | Forensic Files

hey it's your boy Mike The Situation Santino welcome to statute of limitations it's the ultimate lineup
it's Cooks this is not my fault that I stole this car it's conmen this is my chance I can be rich for life it's w to
be King Pins we all made together $500,000 and queen pins it was basically a lounge of
criminals these are stories of the nonviolent lucky punks and Robin hoods that Dodge the law I could have gone to
prison not jail prison because here's the situation baby it's only a matter of time before the statute of limitations
is up and technically you might walk away scotf free but don't take her from me guys I'm obviously no lawyer this is
statute of limitations what's up it's your boy Mike The Situation Santino welcome to the
show where we find folks who Once Upon a Time committed a crime this episode we have a military man who took the term
high seas a little too literal and a dude whose job made feel like Christmas every day when he played a little game
called one for you and one for me we go now to the high seas like the wicked high and a guy who spent 20 years
smuggling drugs across the world but he sailed past the police long enough to get away with it all meet John my name
is John and I smuggle drugs for 20 years while I was in the US Merchant Marine and I smuggled marijuana I smuggled h
ashes and I smuggle cocaine and I never got caught in 1980 I joined the Merchant
Marine when you're on a boat it gets rough you get seasick but marijuana the THC relieves
the nausea and so there's a joke that's why they call it the high seas and my first foreign trip was to portter Prince
Haiti and that's the first time I was involved in drug smuggling first thing you do when you
get to foreign Port is you find a good cab driver he took us somewhere near pter Prince and there was no street
lights or anything like that we gave him some money and he took off and a little
while later he came back and he had a few ounces of weed it was good stuff we brought it back to the boat and so
wherever we went we would score weed just for the seasickness I never smuggled for cartels
it everything was for personal use anyway I started getting trips to like the Mediterranean to Africa one of those
trips we uh went to abigan and the Ivory Coast three other guys they went to score weed in Aban and they got set up
and uh they got busted the company had to pay a ton of money money to get them out and of course these guys were all
Academy graduates and they lost their licenses and everything I learned one thing when I
first started working if you hang out with Americans when you're in a foreign Port they're just going to get you in
trouble they're going to get drunk they're going to do some stupid you can get screwed over by
association like one time we went to Morocco and uh that was probably the first trip where I kind of led the
adventure to go score as soon as the ship hit the dock we're on the beach it's like 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning
we got us a great cab driver first he takes us to a coffee shop and he takes the money and he leaves and while he was
gone a police officer walked in so my two friends they're like freaked out we get back in the cab and he actually
hadn't got anything but he knew where he was going to go and so he took us to an
area and then of course he got out came back a little while later and we had several ounces of hashish my friends are
afraid to touch it right cuz they're they think they're going to get busted by even touching it and I'm just like
give me that basically I had the balls to do it you know a lot of people they want to get high but they don't have the
balls you're lucky that you had someone like me who did so I was sticking in the
pocket of my jacket and so we go back on board the ship we had to smuggle it out
of Morocco you got to put it somewhere where the Customs agents can't find it the best place for that is a chain
locker and so what we do is we take 35 mm film bottles and we stuff it full of the hash and then hide it behind the
angle iron so it's got a horrible odor already they just raised the a hatch look down in there okay looks great and
if they bring a dog aboard the ship you sprinkle pepper in different locations on board the ship and when that dog gets
a snoot full of pepper that dog ain't worth a damn the rest of the day you know you're in
business you could have smuggled pounds kilos but of course we never did that because if you're smuggling large
amounts that's how people get busted and once I became a licensed officer I was kind of like the Kingpin you would say
it was like in ' 85 I got married for the first time and we had a baby and you know once you have family and you have
other people that can be affected by your actions you know you think twice about it but I ain't going to lie I'd
gotten away with it every single time for so long I still continue to do it when I started smuggling cocaine the
first place was out of Japan and I flew back to Hawaii I noticed when I was wearing the uniform when I went through
customs they didn't even give me a second look they see me wave me through I'd put my bag on the
conveyor they'd let it go through and I'd walk down the other end pick it up and so I was like
wow I bet I could freaking smuggle Coke like this in my bag of course of course I'm only going to start with a small
amount like a few grams that went through no problem and so then once you get that through you get a little
Boulder you may get a couple ounces and then that works and then you end up with
a whole key the most ever smuggle Like Cocaine was uh like a kilo like this much something like
that when I was in Rio de Janeiro I flew back off of that trip I brought a key back with me there uh Panama well Panama
you could it was so easy to get there they didn't have hash in Panama it's just cocaine and weed and you just keep
it on board the ship on a trip back from the Mediterranean we got some hashes and
we're going into New York and of course in New York they're going to bring dogs on you know that so you've already gone
around with your pepper you got your stuff all stashed in the locker and everything I didn't think about it I I
was using a 3/8 in brass spitting that you get from the engine room and using that to smoke the hash in I had taken
the uh pipe and I'd stuck it in my pocket so Customs came on you know and I'm out doing my thing they're doing
their thing searching and checking everybody so they can go ashore and leave and stuff like that anyway then it
comes my turn so they take me in my stateroom I'm wearing these a red welder's gloves I knew they were going
to ask me to empty my pockets but when they got in there they're raising the matresses and looking in the drawers and
stuff like that so my hand brushes my pocket and I realized oh my God I got this freaking
pipe in my damn pocket and so they weren't paying attention to me so I took it out and I couldn't move because it
the room was small and I couldn't go anywhere without getting their attention so I just stuffed it in the uh in the
glove anyway they looked around and they didn't see anything and so they were all
happy and and so they're like okay we're done and so we all get up and we start to walk out and one of them reaches over
and picks up that welder's glove and he holds it up and the pipe comes rolling out I I was shaking my boots cuz I
thought I was screwed oh ship that's right guys another pun by the situation but the
gloves are off the heat is on and Jon's standing there with the authorities holding his pipe he thinks he's screwed
I think he's screwed but what he doesn't know is someone's about to bail him out
find out how John escapes his sticky situation on statute of limitations next we are back with more statute of
limitations where my man John he's in deep trouble while trying to smuggle drugs on board a ship some
incriminating evidence lands right at the custom agent's feet so how's this budding Pablo Escobar survived to tell
his story he's got an unlikely Ally in high places watch this so Customs came on you know and I'm out doing my thing
they're doing their thing sech in and one of them reaches over and picks up that welder's glove and the pipe comes
rolling out I was shaking my boots cuz I thought I I thought I was screwed we still had a
bunch of hash on board down in the chain Locker so you know I the last thing I wanted was these guys to have a reason
to start checking other things they were like hey what's this I don't know I've never seen it before where did this come
from and I'm like dude I I don't know anything about it and they're like n this something's wrong here we're going
to the captain about this and we all go to the captain uh Captain look what we found in his State
room and so the captain says so what it's a 3/8 in brass spitting we got a hundred of them in the engine room if
you want another one go get one and they're like well no uh it has a screen in it and we can see something's been
burnt on that screen and the captain's like huh do youall have anything else or or is
this it and they're like well no that we just found that he's like okay well great he goes I'm busy right now and so
uh y'all get your asses off my ship he goes I don't have time for this B they left the boat and I got off scott free
and that was the closest uh I'd ever come to uh getting caught I did 20 years in the mercher Marine uh I retired and
uh and I would never ever smuggle drugs again that's something I did when I was young and now I'm old I just ain't got
to do it anymore you know they have their shows like Locked Up Abroad and and I Almost Got Away With It And I've
always watched those and I'm like what in the hell were they going to do someone who actually got away with it
for 20 years and that was me and actually finally found the show yo big props to John for riding the
ship and getting his life together he avoided jail time and served up a whale of a tail baby wo now that's fire now
it's about to get personal this is a story of a Cali dude who started as a personal shopper and became a secret
seller of stolen stuff it could have landed him in prison but maybe he sold his soul to the devil because he's here
to share his secret meet Chris hi my name is Chris and in 2012 I stole a lot from a billionaire family that I
was a personal shopper for in La at that time my parents they scrapped up all the money they could
middle class family and they sent me to this school that was really expensive and I was just surrounded by really rich
kids so clearly I didn't have nearly as much money as they did but I had had my own style I could go to Vintage shops I
go to pawn shops there's a lot more work but I needed a job after school and a friend of a friend hooked me up with
this gig working for this billionaire family where I would buy all their stuff so the dad was a Real Estate Mogul he
was flying around the world all the time never home neglected the wife neglected
the two kids the wife just she didn't know what to do at the time she just bought a bunch of stuff and ate a lot of
brunch the kids same thing handbags jewelry clothes the whole nine your typical influencers they need therapy
man so one time I bought the wife this handbag she really liked and she went on vacation and lost it so ever since then
she's like two of everything Chris two for me two for the kids everything it got to the point where I had to store
this stuff in my apartment boxes everywhere where boxes to the ceiling I couldn't even get in my own kitchen but
then I realized they didn't even use one of this stuff so there's two of everything I could sell one of them they
wouldn't even notice so I decided to give it a try I grabbed this $200 vintage shirt they had
sitting around for months and I went into a pawn shop I was was nervous about it I pulled the trigger got an extra 200
bucks so the next few weeks I couldn't sleep like are they going to ask about this shirt am I going to get fired am I
going to go to jail but then nothing happened they didn't ask me about it they didn't care they didn't notice I
was in the clear baby drink some meat so the way I thought if I could get away with a $200
t-shirt why not $1,000 bracelet why not a $5,000 handbag so the next two months boom boom boom I was in every pawn shop
selling every duplicate I had I was making money and at one point I sold two of the same handbag and just my luck the
wife wanted it and I didn't know where I sold it how could I remember I didn't write it down I I was just making money
and she wanted it she had this big party that night it went well with her dress or something I don't know but she called
me four times she's like Chris where where is this bag I don't see it anywhere and I'm driving around town I
can't find it I must have gone into six shops I found the shop where I sold one of them and they sold it great awesome
I'm going to jail I kept going that day I went into three more shops I find the secondhand bag it's on the shelf and I'm
like hey can I buy that and the guy's like didn't you sell this to us like a week ago I'm like no no no it's it's
okay I I I need it back I got it to the wife like an hour before the party she didn't know anything I didn't
get caught but I had to change some things I had to be more careful I started writing everything down where I
sold everything what pawn shop what item what date all the data I wasn't going to
get caught this time so as a personal shopper I was making a grand a week I could make up to 10 grand a month as a
personal seller life was good man I was making money I was treating myself I I was treating the people close to me and
they didn't know a thing so 2 years into the gig making good money Family decides to move they
need an even bigger house I don't know why stuff can get lost in the shuffle if you know what I mean this was a big
chance to score they're not tracking any of this stuff they got a lot of other people working for them a lot of stuff
they want me to buy for it this is how I'm going to do it I can be rich for life such a big undertaking I got to
bring in another guy I had a buddy from high school he's a little sketchy but I knew he'd be willing to do this kind of
thing so we get to work we're writing everything down we're in every pawn shop from San Diego to Santa Barbara I I was
working so much I couldn't even spend the money but I couldn't stop it was so much money business was booming how
could I stop you going to say no to 10 grand I'm not all of my time was consumed by this
so one day the wife calls me and says hey we're in the middle of the move we're missing some stuff do you know
anything about it I was like no uh everything should be at the house she's like we may be rich but we don't like
being stolen from we're going to check the security footage and I panic oh crap the security
footage trust me that secret Eye in the Sky don't blink find out if Chris can buy his way
at the trouble on statute of limitations next way back in the day our man Chris was stealing tons of stuff from the rich
family that employed him but while he was making all that stuff disappear he was also creating something in the
process a trail of evidence all thanks to their security cam footage how's he going to get out of this the same way
they should have been able to put him away roll the tape she's like We're going to going to check the security
footage we may be rich but we don't like being stolen from I think this is it oh
crap security footage I might have misstepped here and there are they going to see me grabbing something from the
basement are they going to see me Wheeling out a box or two it's been so long I can't even remember now I'm like
I want to help you get to the bottom of who's doing this who's looking at the security footage uh do you want me to
talk to anyone else on staff and she's like I'll take care of it and walked away I got scared she didn't trust me I
know she thinks it's me so I got to cover my tracks I got all this stuff in my apartment should I put it back in the
house should I get rid of it I got to talk to my buddy like hey man have they talked to you at all like maybe we were
hanging out one day at the house and they know who you are my mind's racing I got to get everything out of my
apartment I have so much stuff in there still if I get a knock on the door they're going to see that I tried to
sell some stuff to pawn shops but I couldn't do it fast enough I threw away tens of thousands of dollars of
items right in the dumpster so I know they're going to be checking the tapes every day and now I'm just thinking back
to every time I walked through the basement and there was a camera on me every time I was walking up the driveway
they had this place under constant surveillance I'm looking up how long does footage stay in the system for if
it's a month I'm okay I don't think I've taken anything from there in that amount
of time but if it's more I think they got me red-handed one day the wife calls me in and says hey Chris can I talk to
you for a second I think this is it she sits me down and says Chris about the security
footage I think I should be running for the door and she says Chris I want to put you in charge of it
I want you to get to the bottom of who's doing this I'm like what are you crazy lady who do you think
has access to all this stuff on the inside I'm popping champagne bottles I'm partying I'm
likeo she doesn't suspect it's me she trusts me but on the outside I'm like of course I can totally do that for you
anything you need I'm going to help you out am I in there red-handed am I taking
stuff out of the basement hour six I found something they have hundreds of hours of footage here they're not going
to notice if 6 minutes is missing so delete delete I give her a report I'm like I don't find anything here could be
these movers you have coming in all the time but your footage is only stored for
90 days so chances are it's been deleted already they let it go so I continue to
work for him for the next few months make sure the move went smoothly I was like hey
it's time that I do something else so on my last day as a going away present the
husband didn't even know he liked me came up and said Chris you did a good job I want you to have this he gave me a
$5,000 Rolex little did he know I already have two of them Yo three must be the magic number
especially when it comes to those Rolexes I guess he's the type of person who will rob you and then help you look
for it too wow those people right there on the wars anyway even after stealing countless high-end designer Goods none
of which were fugazi fugazi fugazi you know what I'm saying Chris is lucky as hell he's home free damn we could
probably all learn something from him that's a wrap for this episode I'm Mike The Situation Santino be sure to check
out more highflying L defying folks that fought the law and won next time on statute of limitations
capiche peace this program is for entertainment purposes only and it is not legal advice
the statute of limitations are complicated and depend on many factors if you need advice you should seek legal
counsel from a competent attorney in your jurisdiction [Music] yeah [Music] back

John, a military man, smuggles drugs from port to port, but a mistake exposes him. Chris, a personal shopper for billionaires, steals unnoticed merchandise, unaware of the cameras that surround him. Hosted by the iconic Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Statute of Limitations pushes the boundaries of justice as individuals confess to non-violent crimes that have long surpassed the statute of limitations. Each episode features the stories of those brazen enough to confess their secret crimes. New episodes of Statute of Limitations will be posted every Friday and Sunday. If you’re ready for more crazy stories, brought to you by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, comment below and be sure to hit that like and subscribe button!

Brief Summary

John smuggled drugs for 20 years; Chris stole from a billionaire family.

Key points

The Statute of Limitations. Mike The Situation introduces the concept of the statute of limitations and its implications.
John's Smuggling Journey. Meet John, a former drug smuggler who evaded capture for 20 years.
Chris's Secret Sales. Chris, a personal shopper, begins selling stolen items from a billionaire family.
Security Footage Panic. Chris faces a potential disaster as his employer checks security footage.
The Situation's Takeaway. Reflecting on lessons learned from Chris's experiences.
Legal Disclaimer. Important reminder about legal advice and jurisdiction.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I never smuggled for cartels; everything was for personal use.

John explaining his smuggling operations.

3:06WatchMar 8, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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