"Stolen Phone Saga: Retrieving My Lifeline When the alma Police Fail to Act"

On February 16, my phone was stolen at Love's Travel Center. A manager created a

diversion for a person who was part of a family at the dog park, who then handed it to Ronald J. Sanders, also part of the group. I reported it to the police that night. The next morning, I received a phone call from my cell phone, asking if I was the guy with the Great Dane. I wondered how Ronald knew whose cell phone it was, as I only had my mother's phone number and a message on the phone saying, "I know you have it. 48 hours before I contact police and show videos and your location." I had spoken to him the previous night and was with the family. My mother was beside my phone in the truck, so I knew I hadn't dropped it anywhere. Since my phone was about to die and I didn't need it at the time, I talked to him at the dog park more and then went back to the family in front of the dog park. The family then got into a red car and went to the front to do something. I went to tell my mom to take the other dogs out so they could use the restroom and play with my service dog. About 15 to 20 minutes later, the manager came out and walked all the way around the dog park, forcing us to turn around away from the truck. The conversation quickly turned into wild accusations about my service dog being aggressive, out of control, running loose, and even pooping in front of the store. Suddenly, he looked off, but at the time, we didn't know why, and then he deescalated his voice and said that if we weren’t doing any of that, there was no need to trespass or call the law, then walked off. My mom said to me, "What the heck, that was weird what he did." So we finished letting our dogs run around and use the restroom. We definitely picked up the poop because my dog poops like a cow. Right when we were putting the dogs up, I noticed my phone wasn't where I left it. So I started searching and searching, hoping I could find it in my truck, but mom said it wasn't there. It makes sense now why he did what he did; he was a diversion to steal my phone. I called the police and reported it. The policeman came and gave me the impression that he was actually making a report, took photos of my truck, the dog park, and my laptop that had my phone's serial number showing. He even gave me a case number. After that, we left Love's and went somewhere else in Ennis. In the mornings Ronald called. We started texting, and you guys can read the conversation in this post. He told me he accidentally thought it was his phone, even though his phone is an Oppo. In another conversation with Ronald, he said he was going to mail it back to me using USPS. I called the police to update them about who had my phone and where it was and told him he was going to mail it back to me. They gave me the impression they were going to update me, and they had to investigate. A week later, my phone still wasn't in the mail, so I decided to contact the police again. There was an officer who was rude and said we were lucky he gave us 10 minutes of his time; most wouldn't give us five to talk about a cell phone. He told us we needed to make a report because there wasn't one, but that's all they would do. So I went down to Alma to make another police report, and you won't believe what I filmed. You need to see the videos on my video and broadcast page when I upload them and start that page up. A couple of days later, I received a phone call from a gas station 250 miles away; they told me they had my phone and they put it in the safe for me. I told them I'd contact the police and see what they could do and how I could get it back. So I contacted the Alma police again, and one of the officers said they would help me get my phone back and there was no need to go down there. But I haven't heard from them since, and I got that recorded. I called one more time to see if there was any update; another officer said the officer who was on my case is not working and off again. I was under the impression, based on his demeanor, that they were not going to help me at all. So now I'm on my way to pick up my phone myself because the police aren't doing their job. I don't even know if I'll have enough money for gas to make it back to Ennis or if my bad tire will last. This phone is not just a regular phone; it's a tool that I use regularly to help me through my day because of my disability and blindness. Plus, I need to get a new job. This is one of many incidents that led me to start WhyWeBeg.com. Stay tuned for updates and follow us if you want to hear and read more about the incidents that led to the creation of this website, because enough is enough, and this is why we beg.