VLS Felony - Donation Link in First Post

omegawhitemage · Nov 11, 2007

As many of you know myself and my crew The Mages have run some of the most successful East Coast tournaments of all time. After today we have also held the second biggest EC tournament ever. However, I only write this due to the fact that an absolutely unheard of offense occurred this weekend.

We, as a rule, always keep all of our money separated and counted in envelopes inside a lock box which only i have the key for. At no point during this tournament was that lock box out of my sight for more than twenty minutes. At some point, someone felt the need to break the lock box, then break our lock box inside that actually had the money. As if that wasn't enough they stole our entire crews pot of $1000, then fixed the boxes and went on their way!

We are not complacent tournament hosts, we are also not in this for profit. But there is no way we can host a tournament of this size and allow this to happen. We had to take the money for crews out of our entrance fee money, which therefore didn't allow us to pay for the venue in full thus ruining any relationship we had with the venue owner. We were also unable to pay for our equipment as well.

I would just like to personally say that this has much soured my liking of this community. To think someone would steal from the people who provide the very catalyst for it's growth. So I'd like to announce that unless something drastic changes, there will NOT be another tournament hosted by The Mages. This is just a blatant show of disrespect towards us and there is no reason for us to support a community which won't even give us the common courtesy of not stealing everyone's money. So with all this having been said...

...It's just not fun anymore...

**EDIT**
For the record, ANYONE who knows who did this please PM me. Or if you did it and you want to come clean, I'll be more than happy to keep your name confidential should you come forward and return the stolen money. It would be all too appreciated.

Anyone who wishes to donate may got here: http://ssbmcataclysm.com/j1/

Just click donate and there you go. Tell everyone you know if they're interested. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all in advance.

Sir James · Nov 11, 2007

You've got to be kidding me....this is outrageous. I hope whoever did it will confess. Please think things over for the good of the community to whoever did it.

Rx- · Nov 12, 2007

Wow, that really sucks. I hope everyone keeps their ears open and reports any suspicion. Acts of this nature are not acceptable.

Rapid_Assassin · Nov 12, 2007

Copied and pasted from results thread:

Rapid_Assassin said:
Just read Blue's post.

WTF is wrong with people? You should be ashamed of yourself if you're the one that did it. Please do the right thing and return the money.

_milktea · Nov 12, 2007

I'm sorry Omegawhitemage. People are horrible people, in the Smash community or not, they're everywhere. I hope you still <3 us and chill out with us anyways in the near future

.

SEXY · Nov 12, 2007

i wonder if who ever did it is hearing about this. perhaps the mages will forgive if they get their money back and an apologie, also maybe they will be nice enough to not announce who did it if they come clean.

Ero3 · Nov 12, 2007

How the hell did they pull that off with all those people around? thats some James Bond ****...

lame non the less however, for shame theif!

_V_ · Nov 12, 2007

Such bull****. The mages did not deserve this.

AxelSlam · Nov 12, 2007

wow dude
that really does suck balls.
i dont see why some jack a$$ would do that.
thats just uberly wrong in every way possible.
=[

widowmaker300 · Nov 12, 2007

i didnt even go to this and i could tell that there was an exponential amount of effort put into it. like honestly, who would do something like that? the mages have provided the entire smash community with amazing tournys, why anyone would steal from the ones who can make it possible for the rest of us is beyond me.

if ur the person that stole the money, **** urself. i hope ur real proud of urself *******.

Hazygoose · Nov 12, 2007

what do i do if i want to donate 10 bucks?
i am not expecting the mages to host another tourny, they have no reason to, but i want to give a little bit, and hope others do, too, so that they are not totally screwed in debt.

omegawhitemage · Nov 12, 2007

For the record, I forgot to mention in the first post, ANYONE who knows who did this please PM me. Or if you did it and you want to come clean, I'll be more than happy to keep your name confidential should you come forward and return the stolen money. It would be all too appreciated.

Sir James · Nov 12, 2007

omegawhitemage said:
For the record, I forgot to mention in the first post, ANYONE who knows who did this please PM me. Or if you did it and you want to come clean, I'll be more than happy to keep your name confidential should you come forward and return the stolen money. It would be all too appreciated.

Make sure to edit this into your first post. And dude, there are many of us that would love to help donate to get the money back. Set up a Paypal account ASAP. **** that theif, we'll get the money to you somehow.

SEXY · Nov 12, 2007

omegawhitemage said:
For the record, I forgot to mention in the first post, ANYONE who knows who did this please PM me. Or if you did it and you want to come clean, I'll be more than happy to keep your name confidential should you come forward and return the stolen money. It would be all too appreciated.

hah i was right, so who ever did it has a chance of still being apart of the smash communite without this ugly event tagging along with them. (i am assumig no one would want to play with who ever did it)

so i hope who ever did it finds it im themselfs to do so.

unnknownz · Nov 12, 2007

how is that possible

Jam Stunna · Nov 12, 2007

This is super-****ed up, but please guys, retain some sort of frame of reference here. Yes, $1000 is a HUGE amount of money, and we can only hope that justice is done here. But this is the action of either an individual or a very small group of individuals, not the entire community. If you choose not to host anymore tournaments, I can understand and respect that decision, although I hope you reconsider. However, I think it's inappropriate to blame the community (or in other words, ALL of us) for the actions of a few.

Hazygoose · Nov 12, 2007

unnknownz said:
how is that possible

ask Turnip. he's smart enough to figure it out or else it couldn't have happened, apparently.

Caleb Wolfbrand · Nov 12, 2007

that is so ****ing terrible jesus, people really do suck >_<

omegawhitemage · Nov 12, 2007

Jam Stunna said:
This is super-****ed up, but please guys, retain some sort of frame of reference here. Yes, $1000 is a HUGE amount of money, and we can only hope that justice is done here. But this is the action of either an individual or a very small group of individuals, not the entire community. If you choose not to host anymore tournaments, I can understand and respect that decision, although I hope you reconsider. However, I think it's inappropriate to blame the community (or in other words, ALL of us) for the actions of a few.

You misunderstand, I don't blame the community for anything. I love what we have and would do anything to make it better, which is why I host.

All I mean by it "souring my like of the community" is simply the fact that something like this could happen and NO ONE knows anything about it. People talk, and if more than one person is going to withhold this information from us, I have no desire to be a part of it.

Warrior of Zarona · Nov 12, 2007

This is quite the catastrophe. Blue wanted to be able to use that money to help finance the EC Regional Circuit, and this puts a huge damper on things. This is really discouraging for us, who do so much for the community, only to rob not only our hard work, but for those who would deserve to win that money.

Jam Stunna · Nov 12, 2007

omegawhitemage said:
You misunderstand, I don't blame the community for anything. I love what we have and would do anything to make it better, which is why I host.

All I mean by it "souring my like of the community" is simply the fact that something like this could happen and NO ONE knows anything about it. People talk, and if more than one person is going to withhold this information from us, I have no desire to be a part of it.

I know that whoever did this will turn up, it's just a matter of time. You don't steal that kind of money from a community this close-knit and not blab to somebody.

Jam Stunna · Nov 12, 2007

Hazygoose said:
what do i do if i want to donate 10 bucks?
i am not expecting the mages to host another tourny, they have no reason to, but i want to give a little bit, and hope others do, too, so that they are not totally screwed in debt.

We should start a Paypal fundraiser or something. Does anyone know how to do that?

oneangrysquirrel · Nov 12, 2007

This had to be super hard to pull off, we were talking about it, and if the money was in the mages lair, i never saw the mages lair being vacant, i mean with a friendly tv in there, maybe the people that were there during the call out times in the hallway? or like key matches..they are the only explanation for the amount of time that people would need to pull this off...and wouldn't it have to be more than one person? One as a lookout maybe? Its just hard for me as a person to concieve someone stealing in a crowded room like that and no one seeing anything.....especially a smasher...we'll call people out on everything and no one has called out anything suspicious? I'm as pissed as anyone, but i think it was way more than one person, and if it was one person, it was one really really sneaky person. I think it was more than one person, thats all i'm getting at

Rapid_Assassin · Nov 12, 2007

It's probably a small group of people.

Were there any times when the room that the lock box was in was completely vacant?

omegawhitemage · Nov 12, 2007

At no point was Blackmage I not in the room and not only that, it was hidden in the room.

Hazygoose · Nov 12, 2007

Jam Stunna said:
We should start a Paypal fundraiser or something. Does anyone know how to do that?

i'll set something up tomorrow afternoon.

Green Hunter · Nov 12, 2007

This is a terrible, unfortunate event. To think that someone would do this to the staple of large-scale tournaments in the New England area is beyond me. OWM has every right to consider not holding another tournament, and Blue has every right to be pissed (the poor guys). OWM would do anything to hold a tourney for this community, and Blue is just a great guy. He's the best person I've met through smash, and this is the last thing he deserves. But at the same time, I find it incredibly warming that some of you are willing to donate to pay back the funds lost.

I would be lying if I said my own views of the community aren't skewed even a little bit by this, and those who know me best know that I wouldn't be caught dead lying. Differences have risen among people all across the board. There's been lots of trash talking, but never anything beyond a punch thrown to my knowledge. To know that theft occurred within a venue and in the presence of the Mages, leaving no doubt in my mind that that money was secure, is unbelievable. Let's hope the best.

Omnigamer · Nov 12, 2007

Have you contacted the police on this? Should be easily filed as a vandalism and theft. I don't know how much they'd be able to help, but it's something.

Chexr · Nov 12, 2007

I wasn't even there and I feel bad. Someone stole my iPod back at FCD from my backpack while I was sleeping so I know what its like...a bit. I would be willing to donate a bit to help

TheCatPhysician · Nov 12, 2007

omegawhitemage said:
At no point was Blackmage I not in the room and not only that, it was hidden in the room.

i'm wondering if it's possible that the money is missing because of some mistake, and not stolen. it would be hard enough just for someone to break the locks while you guys were in the room the whole time, but to even fix everything back up?

im not saying this is what i believe though, and if the money really was stolen then that is very terrible to do to someone hosting a tournament for you.

Green Hunter · Nov 12, 2007

TheCatPhysician said:
im not saying this is what i believe though, and if the money really was stolen then that is very terrible to do to someone hosting a tournament for you.

I hope to God you aren't insinuating that you think the money wasn't stolen.

SuperRad · Nov 12, 2007

this is pathetic. one of the best things about the smash community is that it has always seemed so trust worthy to me. people take $100s of dollars of electronics and let it be used by people they've never met before. they give their money to people they hardly know to enter tournaments.

i doubt the money will turn up (although i have a feeling that it might've been more a crime of convenience, which could mean that someones conscious will cause them to return it), but I wish the best for the mages in this situation.

edit: TheCatPhysician came out and said what I was hinting at with the "crime of convenience" thing. It seems more likely that the money was picked up when it was laying out then an elaborate lock breaking heist.

TheCatPhysician · Nov 12, 2007

Green Hunter said:
I hope to God you aren't insinuating that you think the money wasn't stolen.

i was afraid of sounding rude like that. i know that what happened is extremely terrible, like i said. the mages were doing are doing a huge favor for the community, and they get screwed over for it.

im just saying, is it totally impossible that the money might be missing because of some other reason? like i said, it sounds really crazy that someone could have broken the locks and everything, then rebuilt everything back up, all while the mages were in the room. i wasn't at the tournament and i dont know what the situation was like, so im just wondering.

omegawhitemage · Nov 12, 2007

I know how crazily unlikely it all sounds, but WOZ and I have spent the last two hours going over every possible time that money was not in the box. From when it was handed it by each crew, to when i was passed the envelope and put it in the box. I KNOW it made it there and there is no doubt in my mind, so as incredibly unlikely as it sounds, please keep an open mind.

peachori · Nov 12, 2007

yeah, the whole lock thing sounds kinda improbable. but i'm sure if the tourney organizers wanted to steal, they could've done away with much more than just $950. but i'm pretty sure they checked everywhere before posting this ****, and thats really ****ed for someone to jack it.

so amazing how people can be so **** selfish

we need phoenix wright.

Mic_128 · Nov 12, 2007

Omnigamer said:
Have you contacted the police on this? Should be easily filed as a vandalism and theft. I don't know how much they'd be able to help, but it's something.

I'd do that. Get some fingerprinting done, and you got em.

the_suicide_fox · Nov 12, 2007

You should call the cops like Mic and Omni had said. What this person(s) did was grand larceny, a felony punishable by prison time:

grand larceny
n. the crime of theft of another's property (including money) over a certain value (for example, $500), as distinguished from petty (or petit) larceny in which the value is below the grand larceny limit. Some states only recognize the crime of larceny, but draw the line between a felony (punishable by state prison time) and a misdemeanor (local jail and/or fine) based on the value of the loot.

Call the cops, get fingerprints and give them you sign in sheets or any info you have on attendees. This sounds like it was somehow planned prior to the event, meaning a group of people planned to try and steal the money. Was there anyone there who seemed suspicious? Someone who maybe sucked bad at smash(and by that likely had little to no clue how to play) and came in a large group. Who was eliminated first? One of them might be the thief, considering the top players wouldn't have time to steal it and are more well known in the community. Any photos of the event? All this kind of stuff can be evidence, and since it's a felony crime, they can pursue across state lines to make an arrest.

I suggest to the person(s) who did it to fess up, b/c you can face up to 5 years in prison, not to mention the community is now after you.

As another note, IF you ever decide to run another tournament of this scale, I suggest to have/hire someone specifically to guard the money. Hire large men, with beards and tattoos. Also having a coat/bag check will deter would-be thieves.

Deleted member · Nov 12, 2007

I'd have to agree, that is too much money to allow a clean escape.

xyouxarexuglyx2 · Nov 12, 2007

Yeah, you should seriously get some fingerprinting done. I think it would be unlikely to break the box open without getting fingerprints on it.

Kokichi · Nov 12, 2007

Just hopefully the fingerprints are still there...no reason not to bring it to the police.

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