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ALERT: Red Cameras & Access. Stolen in Boston

Steve Sherrick

Steve Sherrick

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To the Red community, it has come to my attention that two rental companies in Boston - Film Star Rentals and Boston Camera - have had Red Cameras and accessories stolen. Details are still being sorted out, but it appears that a production company (almost certain not legitimate) setup accounts with the two companies, provided insurance certificates, etc. and had a T-Mobile commercial shoot planned for this week. They have disappeared with the equipment.

From Film Star Rentals the following gear was stolen.

Red One #4452 and accessories
Zeiss Standard set
Sony EX-3
Sound Devices 302 Mixer
Bogen Tripod
Panasonic 17" Field Monitor
Sennheiser EW100 Lav system
6 Motorolla Radios
Macbook Pro System


From Boston Camera

Complete Red One Package (still awaiting serial #)
Cooke 18-100
Car Mount

More details will follow in the next few days, but suffice to say this was a big hit. I do know the name of the company they provided, as well as the address and I can say with almost certainty it was fictional based on this information. But we have to let law enforcement sort through the facts and I am not comfortable posting that information until they have.

If anyone has any information that might be helpful to the investigation, please contact Billy Mead at Film Star Rentals 617-268-8811 or Boston Camera at 617-277-2200.

I appreciate any help you guys might be able to give to these two rental companies as they try to sort out this unfortunate turn of events.

Thanks!
 
Sons of assholes! I hope these people rot. At first I thought your camera was stolen Steve... Good thing. I'll keep my eyeballs out there on the West Coast
 
Bad news.. email me the info when you get it Steve so I can make sure its in our system.
 
Hi Steve, we will be sure to put a red flag on that serial number. If you have any further information, feel free to send it to kelly - at - red - dot - com.
 
Jarred,

Any chance RED can incorporate a key code for future upgrades?

Just thinking about a way to combat this for the future!

Thanks
Dave

P.S.
Nice touch adding the decorations on the REDUSER banner!!!
 
Andrew Walker said:
This is why I would never rent my gear out to productions that I wasn't present on. But I guess rental houses have no choice.
Click to expand...

Rental companies do their best to make sure this doesn't happen and I'm sure they covered themselves as best they could. Looks like this might have been one of those times when everything checked out, and no flags went up. And then they got blindsided.

I hear ya though Andrew. It's another reminder that there are people out there with bad intentions and you have to cover all your bases or something like this can happen. A tough world we live in.
 
Jarred Land said:
Bad news.. email me the info when you get it Steve so I can make sure its in our system.
Click to expand...

Will do. These were not my cameras, but it's a pretty tight community here in Boston and I will help in any way I can.

Thanks Jarred!
 
Kelly said:
Hi Steve, we will be sure to put a red flag on that serial number. If you have any further information, feel free to send it to kelly - at - red - dot - com.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kelly!
 
I have a few questions:

Why didn't the rental companies post this information themselves?

Were proper references checked out? Trade, Bank, Personal?

Why can't we have more information on the renters? Name of company, stated location, personal names?

Has the original term of rental expired? In other words, are we absolutely certain the equipment has been stolen or could this be a communications break-down?

The more we know, the more the Red community may be able to help.

Best regards,

Leo
 
I don't understand what someone is going to do with a stolen Red.. Don't they know that this is the REDmafia they are messing around with???
 
Leo,

I'm sure you will hear from the rental companies themselves. I have been asked to make an initial post to the Reduser community as they are sorting out all of the details. I have a bit more of a presence here in the forum and I am trying to help them out.

I can not say exactly what processes were carried out in terms of background checks, but because both companies have a very good reputation in Boston and beyond, I would think an honest effort was made to verify renter's information. But I don't have all of the facts on this.

I do not want to mention the production company that rented the gear or their location for a number of reasons.

1. I want to make sure that the information I have been provided is accurate.
2. The rental companies are comfortable releasing the name of the production company.
3. See next comment.

From what I have been told, the original term of rental has not expired. There are several reasons why the rental companies have come to the conclusion that the gear has been stolen. There has been very little indication that this could be a communications break-down. However, I am never one for rushing to judgment until all of the facts have been collected and an accurate picture can be painted.

I will provide another update with any new information that is available and/or you will hear from the rental companies themselves. Like I said, I'm just trying to help them get the word out there just in case anyone might have heard something and could help them out.
 
Richard Darge said:
Don't they know that this is the REDmafia they are messing around with???
Click to expand...

So like if I finds these guys... I should break their legs, boss?


Sad, sucky news. Most likely the gear is on its way to Brazil or the middle east.
 
Still kinda wierd though, as it's easy for RED to deny further firmware upgrades to the stolen camera serial numbers or even to disable them (albeit with a small but finite risk of causing problems for existing legit owners).

What happened with the other cases of stolen cameras mentioned on this forum? At least one was a miscommunication false alarm.

Just wondering...
 
On a related note:

Where apart from my delivery note, do I find the serial number of my EVF? It doesn't seem to be obvious anywhere on the EVF body.

EDIT: Nevermind, found it under the rubber sleeve for the EVF focus ring. Shame it's just a sticker and not engraved though.

http://205.234.135.241/forum/showthread.php?t=21390
 
That really sucks.
I suffered a major theft back in June, when a PA took the cube truck home rather than parking it in a garage in Manhattan. The thieves followed him home an waited for the wee hours, when they slipped in via the cab and took lenses, Pro-35, HDX-900 and O'Connor 25-75.
Eventually I was made whole, but boy was it stressful!
Steve, feel free to put the folks at Boston Camera in touch with me. The NYPD has a task force assigned to this specific crime, which has flared up again in recent years. I'm sure the detectives that I dealt with would be very interested in sharing info with their counterparts in Boston. Not sure if they are related but let's help the police on this one if we can.
Cheers,
Harry
 
Harry,

Thanks. I will mention this to both companies. If possible Harry, can you PM me the best contact info for you. Much appreciated!
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
So like if I finds these guys... I should break their legs, boss?


Sad, sucky news. Most likely the gear is on its way to Brazil or the middle east.
Click to expand...

I think a nice pair of cement shoes would be cleaner :shiftyph34r:
 
Hi Steve,

Christian here, from Equilibrio Films.

I will pass the info to our clients and collaborators here in Western Mass!
 
Just an idea. I think it would be possible to include a serial number check during firmware upgrade and disable cameras on the "RED" list. This way with the next Build they would try to load on the camera it will turn it into a piece of useless aluminum. This should be rather easy... Brent?

:) Peter
 
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