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Stolen Camera - RED #1088

Chris Armstrong

Chris Armstrong

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www.elysianpictures.com
Our complete camera package was stolen by a fraudulent individual/company.

The guy had fake ID, setup a fake company, a checking/credit card account that worked but was associated with this this fake information. He even paid us several thousand dollars for the pre-production and equipment rental. (Also provided insurance, our insurance is checking if his is still valid).

This individual(s) new what he was doing in regards to production/renting & covering all of this with fake information. It was quite an elaborate scam.

This is probably no longer useful, but his info was:
Jason McPherson
Nautilus Films
Based out of Conyers, GA (25 miles from Atlanta)

He took a ton of equipment. All of the camera equipment was in TAN pelican cases. Except the tripod head which was a white Innerspace case, and the sticks were in a black case. There was a total of 6 cases.

The serial number for the camera is: #1088
The serial number for our 18-50 zoom is: #370
The serial number for the Panasonic 1700 Monitor is: H8TWB9260

The main elements the kit had were:
  • RED Camera - Serial: 1088
  • RED 18-50mm Zoom - Serial: 370
  • Arri MB20-II with a 4x5.65 Horizontal & Combo frames, and a 5.650 combo frame. Also had top & side flags.
  • Arri FF-4 with 13" Arri whip & Arri speed crank
  • Schneider ND & Grad filters
  • Tiffen 80C & Rosco hot mirror
  • 15mm & 19mm adapters for the MB & FF
  • 2 RED Drives with ET Shock Mounts
  • EVF with ET Mount
  • 3 8GB RED CF Cards & 1 16GB CF Card
  • 15mm & 19mm ET Rods
  • Top Handle and Extensions & ET risers
  • RED Cradle
  • 5.6" LCD with a number of scratches
  • Quickplate
  • 2 Universal mounts
  • RED Cheeseplate, L&R handles, Shoulder dovetail
  • Clear plastic container that held the bolts, screws, XLR cables
  • ET 12" dovetail
  • Nexto DI (160GB) Flash Reader
  • Panasonic 17" HD 1700 Monitor w/ plexiglass guard
  • O'Connor 2060HD Head in an Innerspace case
  • O'Connor Standard legs & Spreaders


There's more gear in there than that, but that should be the main stuff.

Guess is this a warning for others, and if anyone comes across this kit or parts of it please let us know.

-Chris
 
Sorry for the loss. Not good. In these situations, can a photo of the offending party(s) be posted? So painful when you hear about these situations. An even more sadistic thought is that the offending party is probably lurking around on this message board!
 
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Did you get a good picture of the guy? I and others have suggested it as an extra step and a theft deterrent when hiring out your kit. I know not much help now, but high res pictures would sure assist catching and conviction of the guy(s) if they're ever caught and gets the faces to look out for to other RED rental companies.

Sorry for your misfortune! :-(
 
More info here:

More info here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125742414868#/topic.php?uid=125742414868&topic=11851

Hi,

Our RED Camera was just stolen on a heist. This team was very thorough in their heist and we suspect they might be scooping more equipment.

Please get the word out to all the camera houses and your film affiliates to keep your eye out for the following contact info:

FALSE ACCOUNT INFO
The 'alias name' created that stole / heisted our gear appears as follows:
Name on Georgia Drivers License: Jason McPherson (police ran the license and it is fake)
Film Company listed on the Wachovia Visa Bank Check Card: Nautilus Films / Jason McPherson
Address listed on (drivers license and bank card) and where the equipment was shipped to: 1458 Farmer Rd, Conyers, GA
Phone numbers on account (since 10/8/09 have all been deactivated): 404-775-4213 / 310-598-0235

If anyone has any info on finding the below gear, please contact Chris Armstrong at Elysian Pictures 310.491.7955 or chris@elysianpictures.com

STOLEN EQUIPMENT SERIAL NUMBERS
(Our equipment was in tan pelican cases and all equipment has small stickers with 'property of Elysian Pictures')
RED Camera serial: 1088
RED 18-50mm Zoom serial: 370
Panasonic 17 HD Monitor: H8TWB9260

Those are the only pieces with serial numbers. (The Arri gear might have numbers, but I don’t have those).

Attached is a list of everything else in the package.


Thank you kindly for your help,
Jenn Gotzon
 
Always take picture of first time renters. If they decline having there picture taken, then you can decline renting out stuff too.
 
This is awful. Surely there must be a way of bullet proofing rental services?

It should be absolute standard procedure to take a high resolution picture of every renter, EVERY time. What about on top of this, making it mandatory to have a passport, or other peice of hard to forge documentation? Driving licenses are quite easy to forge I imagine, at least in England.

Really feeling for you guys, I hope either you get your gear back pronto, or your insurance pays out.
 
I'm afraid that if you are in production for very long at all sooner or later things get stolen or destroyed. It's why we have insurance. There will always be clever criminals and there will always be bad luck.

My heart always goes out to the victims of these events because I have been there, but the lesson to anyone who owns or rents expensive equipment is to be very careful and to insure it. Never leave it in vehicles. Never put the cameras or lenses in the hold of aircraft. Never leave it in questionable hotels. And never do business with sketchy characters.

Even with all of these rules, we have still lost stuff. I'm sad to say, I'm wise enough to know that sometimes life sucks...
 
Sorry to hear that. :(

I agree that it should be a MANDATORY practice of taking a hi rez pic of EVERY renter that comes in and a database to establish good renters from bad. Of course it would involve more work, but it would perhaps stave off some theft.

It still boggles my mind on how stupid these thieves are. Do they not have a clue that the serial # is perhaps the quintessential element that every owner is proud of?? It's pretty much the 1st thing out of any RED owners mouth..... ie " Hi my names Jay - RED # XXXX"

I guess you can only be so smart to be a thief. idiots.

Hope it works out for you.
 
I agree 100% Rob...

Chris, that is an incredible bummer. Unfortunately there are a lot of goons out there who would rather steal, than work hard for things like the rest of us. You have my complete empathy on this situation...

Hopefully this idiot will be caught - and soon! If anyone tries to have that serial number camera serviced at RED, they'll be nabbed.


Some good advice for all:

Insure your stuff and watch it closely. In the late '90's, me and my crew flew to Miami for a multiple camera production in South Beach. We checked into the hotel, secured the gear as best as we could, then left for 20 minutes to grab some quick takeout food and come back.

This hotel had a "security guard" at the door and a locked front door. As I walked back to my room, I noticed the door was ajar. Not good...

Inside, there were pelican cases strewn around, a window broken (room was on 2nd story), and three brand new Digi Beta camera systems were missing.

When the police got there, they said that kind of thing was a daily occurrence, that most of the stolen equipment was immediately flown out of the country, and that I was lucky I wasn't in the room when they came because they would have probably killed me then taken the stuff. They also said it was probably an inside tip by the security guard to accomplices that paved the way for the theft. As the policeman was finishing taking the report his radio crackled with a report from dispatch that someone had just been shot to death one block away. He quickly finished the report and moved on to the next drama in his work shift...

The equipment was insured, but I had to scramble and find new equipment overnight to rent, and it took us about 5 weeks to get reimbursed for the loss.

Since then, I've not lost any equipment, but I don't let it out of my sight when I'm on the road - RED goes with me to dinner, never stays in a car, never stays in a hotel, is carried on when I fly, etc. But, if someone is armed and threatening your life for the stuff though, I'd say just give them the equipment. You can replace the stuff - but not your life.
 
Steve Gibby said:
I agree 100% Rob...

Chris, that is an incredible bummer. Unfortunately there are a lot of goons out there who would rather steal, than work hard for things like the rest of us. You have my complete empathy on this situation...

Hopefully this idiot will be caught - and soon! If anyone tries to have that serial number camera serviced at RED, they're be nabbed.


Some good advice for all:

Insure your stuff and watch it closely. In the late '90's, me and my crew flew to Miami for a multiple camera production in South Beach. We checked into the hotel, secured the gear as best as we could, then left for 20 minutes to grab some quick takeout food and come back.

This hotel had a "security guard" at the door and a locked front door. As I walked back to my room, I noticed the door was ajar. Not good...

Inside, there were pelican cases strewn around, a window broken (room was on 2nd story), and three brand new Digi Beta camera systems were missing.

When the police got there, they said that kind of thing was a daily occurrence, that most of the stolen equipment was immediately flown out of the country, and that I was lucky I wasn't in the room when they came because they would have probably killed me then taken the stuff. They also said it was probably an inside tip by the security guard to accomplices that paved the way for the theft. As the policeman was finishing taking the report his radio crackled with a report from dispatch that someone had just been shot to death one block away. He quickly finished the report and moved on to the next drama in his work shift...

The equipment was insured, but I had to scramble and find new equipment overnight to rent, and it took us about 5 weeks to get reimbursed for the loss.

Since then, I've not lost any equipment, but I don't let it out of my sight when I'm on the road - RED goes with me to dinner, never stays in a car, never stays in a hotel, is carried on when I fly, etc. But, if someone is armed and threatening your life for the stuff though, I'd say just give them the equipment. You can replace the stuff - but not your life.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty close call....and EXCELLENT advice.
 
For that I use an ATA Carnet:
http://www.atacarnet.com/?source=google&campaign=DutyFreeTrade

The Carnet not only makes entry/exit easier, but it also is a solid paper trail for insurance purposes, should something be stolen.

If I'm going to a country that doesn't recognize the Carnet, then I use U. S. Customs forms for carrying personal equipment abroad, itemize the things with serial numbers, and have Customs sign as I leave and re-renter the country. You can download the forms on the Customs web site. I also take photocopies of key items sales receipts with me - to prove where and when I bought the stuff.
 
Steve Gibby said:
...I use U. S. Customs forms for carrying personal equipment abroad, itemize the things with serial numbers, and have Customs sign as I leave and re-renter the country. You can download the forms on the Customs web site.
Click to expand...

Do you use CBP_Form_4457, or is there a better form to use?
 
Is it possible to put some kind of device in the RED camera, like they do in mobile phones, that requires a PIN code that needs to be entered after the camera is put into a final shutdown mode after a days work?

Or better still a self destruct mode that can be triggered remotely.:sad:
 
Mark B. said:
Do you use CBP_Form_4457, or is there a better form to use?
Click to expand...

That's the one I've used when I've gone to a country that doesn't recognize the Carnet. Here's a direct link to the PDF version of it on the U.S. Customs web site:
http://forms.cbp.gov/pdf/CBP_Form_4457.pdf

Each country is different though. Some want you to post a bond for the value of the equipment. Obviously I try to avoid that. I'd suggest combing through the Customs web site, email or call them if you're unsure about something, and make sure your paperwork is in in order when you travel. I also make a 2nd copy of all the paperwork and keep a hard copy of it in a different location - in case one copy is lost.

If you're going to a country for a specific work project, and they're not a Carnet signee, you'll need to satisfy any incoming paperwork they may need. If you're just traveling with the camera to document your "vacation" - I.E. doing below the radar shooting (stock footage, etc.) you can often times just claim the camera equipment is for shooting your "vacation". That's somewhat of a hard sell with RED One, but will be much easier with a small Epic or Scarlet package :)
 
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