Hawaii Thief Uses Mango Picker to Pilfer Pistols and Rifles

1. As to question number 1, I’ve seen storage facilities where the “ceiling” of the storage unit is nothing but a wire grid, essentially a fence. All he needed to do was climb up on the top of the units and he could have easily used the picker to retrieve (steal) items from other units.

   • Yes, I’ve seen storage unit ‘ceilings’ of chain-link fence material.

     I speculate when the cops were called they took a look at the other units in the building and found one that showed signs it was not the way it was when it was built, and then had a ‘chat’ with whoever rented that unit…

     Being Florida, a whole lot of folks, including myself, have fruit-pickers like that…

2. I think I can answer #3: The legal owner was probably an idiot. The only people I know who store their guns in storage lockers are both idiots and got robbed. Guy who goes to the same gun store I use had thousands of dollars worth of shotguns stolen from a nearby public storage building he had them in. Put them there because he was afraid of losing them in a house fire (yet didn’t think to buy a fireproof safe instead. Didn’t bother to check if the security in the place was on the up and up and likely got pilfered in an inside job. The cameras in the place didn’t work, the emergency exit door in the back had a broken lock, and the thieves didn’t even have to break open the door of the locker, they just climbed in from above because it wasn’t fully walled off.

   • In my single days, I had to get an off base storage locker. I would keep my weapons in a storage locker EVERY time I deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I did not have a home when I deployed and I could not keep a weapon (or two) on base in my barracks room due to the whole base being a GFZ. Our barracks rooms were given to other units when we deployed, so you would never return to the same room, much less the same building. Not everyone has a home to keep stuff in, or can ship stuff to. When in garrison, it was a PITA to keep checking stuff in/out at the base armory.

     You folks with houses/apartment/condos outside of a GFZ don’t know how easy you have it. I was required to be disarmed (essentially) unless actively training for, or engaged in combat operations.

     I was lucky that my stuff was never taken due to my efforts to make my unit look unfit for roaches.

     Note: I am NOT any type of operator, other than just a petroleum truck driver.

     • Petrol truck operator?

       • gas boy

3. On the next episode of “Storage Wars”. Yeahup

4. And I once used a pistol picker to steal a mango. WTF was I thinking?

5. I obviously don’t agree with the man’s action but have to give him an A for ingenuity.

6. “Inquiring minds what(sic) to know.”
   And what I want to know is; How in the hell did he fit rifles into that little fruit bag?

   • Get the sling keeper snagged in the mesh? Attach a pooperscooper on the end? Who said it had to get inside the bag…

7. THE INGENUITY AND EXERTION OF THIEVES. . .

   If he put half the effort into a 2nd job @ McDonalds he’d be on his 4th legal purchase.

   • not in Hawaii

8. As to #3 there are a variety of reasons why they might be in storage.

   A problematic family member. Dementia, Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar, Depression, Alzheimer’s, drugs, Democrat etc.

   I stored rifles in a storage unit my first two years in college. I was forced to live in the dorms and possession was a felony. I customized a foot locker to store rifles and ammo and have minimal problems with moisture.

   Of course, the way I did it you weren’t gonna pick anything up with a Mango picker. Why someone left firearms stored individually and obvious as to what they were is beyond me. Seems like begging for rust in a tropical environment even with grease or cosmoline and wrapped in plastic.

   • Yes, it’s not optimal to store guns in rented units like that. But I can imagine there are many scenarios, such as the one you describe, that might make it someone’s only option. But you really hit the nail on the head about storing them in plain sight within mango-picker reach. That’s just pure stupidity. I mean, if they had even just been in a big cardboard box, the dude couldn’t have gotten them with that technique. I’d at least try to disguise them, if for no other reason than to keep curious eyes from spotting them when I was accessing my storage unit. Really dumb.

9. Ban mango pickers! 😉

10. All things aside, I learned that there’s a dedicated tool for mango picking today.

    Thanks, TTAG! I’m learn-ding!

    • Mango? Who is mango and what does he do.

11. Just two thoughts:

    Before I rented the storage unit I use, I literally went through and kicked or hammered every panel. Any that wiggled I made more firm with 20-penny nails and four-inch screws. I had to climb into the rafters to check the upper panels, but check them I did. And the most valuable thing I store there is camping gear.

    I have one friend who resorted to storing guns in a rented unit, for good reason. His solution: He padlocked them to the rack in a locking steel cabinet. The steel cabinet got chained to the tubing inside a used freezer. The freezer had its own lock, with a decent bolt. Then the freezer didn’t go against the unit’s wall, it got surrounded by other things. And on top of the freezer he stacked several levels of glass jars. But before he even put his stuff in the unit, he added additional 3/4″ plywood, attached with screws and Liquid Nails, to the walls. Finally, not impressed by the unit’s door, he rebuilt it to his satisfaction.
    (Now that he no longer uses it, the owner charges an extra $25/month for that unit as an “extra-secure storage” unit.)

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