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Story
My name is Nate, I'm 17, and I live in Sioux Falls. This whole car 'thing' started May 5, 2000. My father and I were shopping for a car. We stopped by a Park-It-Market at Econo foods, because my attention was caught by a beautiful black Camaro. At the time it had smoke light-covers on the front and rear. It really boosted the appearance. When we drove in for a closer look, I saw the beautiful interior work that was done to the car. I have never seen anything like it. The only ways to describe it were saying it looked like black shattered glass, or like a massive spider web (where I got the idea for Black Widow). My father and I knew it was a great deal at \\$3,500. We later called the guy and met him in town. We test drove it and it sounded and ran great. There was a nice rumble to it thanks to a glass pack the previous owner installed. When we got back from the drive, we talked about buying it, and we negotiated a price. We ended up getting it for \\$2,850. I couldn't believe it. The plan was to come back the following day to pay for it and drive it home. The owner was a great guy, and also threw in the original rims with a pair of nice tires on them(the ones on there at the time are the ones in the picture on the front page), a custom-made sub-woofer box for the back, and a car cover. Anyway, driving it home was great. I have never drove anything like it. At the time it seemed large and powerful, a great feeling with a new car. I had school the following day, and I felt extrememly proud driving such a beauty. It was the best-looking car in our 400-person high school. I showed it to everyone, and they agreed with the greatness of it. I knew the remainder of the school year would be great...
Late in the school year I put a nice stereo system in my car. In my previous car I had a system that consisted of a Jensen CD player, 2 MTX 5000 subs, and an MTX 250X Thunder amp. I put that in my Camaro, and went out and bought another MTX 5000 sub, because the box I got for the car was made for 3 subs. Also when I got the car, the previous owner, Jesse, had some custom-made speaker boxes mounted on the driver and passenger doors. I went out and also bought a pair of Jensen tweeters, and a pair of Pioneer 6" speakers. All in all, it was a good-sounding system with major bass, just the thing most teenage boys like. I got all of this accomplished just after school got out.
The summer went on great. I had a job at Chili's so that I could pay for my car and have spending money for the summer. Driving my car in the summer was awesome. I drove around Sioux Falls attracting plenty of attention, and liking every moment of it. Summer went on, and late in June somthing happened. A very terrible thing, that changed the course of everything with my car. Here's what happened...
One night while I was working, one of my old friends came in, and we chatted. He asked if I wanted to go hangout with some of his friends, and I said sure, and to wait a little bit because I was getting off of work soon. Well, I got off, and we cruised over to a park and hung out with his girlfriend and her friend. The night went on, and when we dropped the girls off at home, my friend Nick asked if I wanted to stay the night and play Playstation and stuff. I said sure, so we went over to my house, picked up my stuff, and cruised over to his house, which was only about 2 miles away and out in the country (which in South Dakota is in the middle of nowhere). We got there, hung out, had fun, and about 12am, one of his friends, Mike, called. They were talking, and my name came up. (Mike and I used to be friends, but we got in a fight and pretty much didn't like each other anymore). Well, Mike found out that I was over there, and then told Nick he had to go. Nick hung up, and we kept playing. Later in the night, around 2:30, the phone rang again. It was Mike again. This time the conversation was short. When it was over, Nick and I played more Playstation. We keep playing until 4am, another call. It was Mike again(the contents of the last two calls were unknown to me). After the call, Nick and I turned off the Playstation and went to bed...
I was woken at about 11am by Nick's sister. I asked what was wrong and she said, "did something happen to your car earlier?" I asked why. She said, "well, it lookes like someone took a bat to your window." I was wondering what was going on, so I quickly put my shoes on and went out side. When I got to my car, which was parked along the road, the view was absolutely devastating. The passenger side window was shattered and caved in, the were 3 deep knife slashes on the passenger side (one on door, one near the rear fender, and the third behind the passenger window. Looking inside I saw that the wires from my CD player were hanging out of the space where it was. Also, my amp was missing, my 3 subs were pryed from the box, and 15 CD's I had in the console were missing too. The whole experience was just too much for me. I sat down, moped for a while, then went inside and called the cops...
***the next 2 paragraphs are over the case, if you don't want to see, you can skip them
I knew that Mike did it. He called 3 times the night before. The cops figured it happened around 2:30, which was the time some lady saw a dark vehicle drive by (just so you know, there isn't any traffic that late at night). And, the second time Mike called was around that time. I say that he called, let Nick know he was there, and did the job. He finished, left, and called back at 4am to say he was done. That was the way the cops and I put it together. They couldn't do anything because of lack of evidence. There was a knife found in my car, and was tested for fingerprints. They found one, but it wasn't good enough to point someone out. I knew I needed to find something on my own...
From talking around during the summer, I ended up finding 3 witnesses claiming that Mike did it. I called the cops, they talked to the guys that had some intell, and the detective on the case put everything together, and a hearing was set (was set for Oct 17). Mike was being charged with burglery, damage to personal property, and grand theft (total of stuff stolen was around \\$1,200), three major felonies. Well, he ended up pleading not guilty, so the thing went on, and there was supposed to be another hearing within the next 6 months. I found out there was a depositional conference thing between the states attourny and Mike's layer about 2 weeks ago (Nov17 I think). What was said is not known by me by the moment, but I will eventually know.
***on with the story
Not much happened to my car over the summer, except for me adding an Ungo Security sytem, which I know I should have put in a long time before. I also purchase some new tires for my car. A really popular pair that cost me about \\$96 apiece. They're called Winston Winner GTs., a very nice tall and wide tire (they're shown in my pic section, not on the front page)
Once school and football started up, not much has happened, at least not any exciting stories (except for the everyday life of Chevy drivers -- beating Mustangs and other POS Fords). The next and latest thing I have done to my car is the additions of front and rear light covers (smoke color). They look pretty sharp on a black car.
Well, I'm gonna keep making new additions to this section whenever somthing cool happens, I get somthing new for my car, or even news on my case with that s.o.b. Mike. Untill then, later.
New*
I have called the state's attourney back on the 29th to see if there have been any updates to my case, and I found out that Mike got picked up the day before and brought to JDC. He must have done something again to get in trouble. But anyways, there's a new court date set for the 2nd of January. Hopefully this will be the last one, and I'll get the restitution I'm hoping for. I'll post the results of it ASAP.
New*
The hearing is over. All it was for was making sure Mike knew the charges against him, and he said he understood, but his lawyer said that they deny everything. That meant there is gonna be a deposition and a trial between here and April. The cool thing that happened is this: his lawyer requested that Mike was to be released into his sister's custody until then. Then my lawyer, the state attourney, said she objected to it, saying Mike already proved that his sister doesn't control him very well, and he had the potential to run. The judge agreed with this and said Mike needs to stay in JDC until the next hearing, which might not be until April! Pretty cool huh?
New*
Today, the 2nd of Feb, I contacted the prosecuting attourney to get some new information, and to hear about any updates on the case. I learned that the trial is on the 8th of Feb. He let me know that he wanted me to come and testify against Mike, and also if I had anymore info for him. I told him that there might be another person who will testify, Josh. The attourney told me to talk to Josh and ask him if he would do that. So, today at school I have talked to him, and he agreed that he'll say some things, like the kind of person that Mike is, and anything else that will need to be known. So, I will call the attourney after school and tell him to get a hold of Josh. Well, I will be sure to post any other info that I get from here until then, and I will also post the outcome of the trial. I will be hoping that it comes out well, and that Mike get what he deserves.
New*
Thursday, March 22, I got new information on the case. I got a hold of the attourney to check for new news. Well, the hearing for his sentencing is April 30. At that hearing, Mike will be sentenced, and the court will award me restitution. That means that from then, up to possible the next year, Mike will have to pay me back. It is believed though that instead of him working and making payments, his rich mommy will pay it all right away. All I have to say is that I'm really glad all of this turned out good. A lot of people thought he'd get away with it, and I'd be out \$2000, but it turned out well. I can't wait till I get the money so I can start on my engine build-up.
