Good fences may make for good neighbors, as good ol’ Ben Franklin says—but only if a ‘neighbor’ doesn’t steal the fence in question. A guy had his eye a on a woman’s metal boundary, but she didn’t want to sell. While wrought-iron ain’t light, the 53-year-old “lifted it”—managing to wrangle the antique fence to his own home location, a few blocks away.
Rather unfortunately, for whom appears to be the not-so-good neighbor Randy King, neighbors take walks: the antique fence owner found her century-old fence planted, just blocks away from where it'd been stolen, but on someone else's property. The "relocated" Minnesota fence can be viewed in the bottom, right portion of the attached photo--allowed, for now, to remain on the man's property whom stole it. The stolen fence required a blowtorch for removal and at least two people, to carry the weight of the pieces.
Randy King admits stealing the antique in Duluth, Minnesota--and installing the wrought iron fence in his own home's yard. The theft adds up to one of the stupidest criminal charges to accrue: because of the cost it's a felony, with probation and ‘payback involved’: the alleged fence thief now owes financial restitution in the amount of $1,500.
Alleged fence thief King claims he was given permission to take a fence from an adjacent property lot but removed “too much”—i.e., took the woman’s fence “too” (supposedly by accident), while removing a fence that King claims he was given permission to take by another party.
Randy King claims, in a signed Legal Diversion Agreement, that "the lots had no boundaries"--the reason he came to 'acquire' the antique fence that dates back more than one hundred years.
The antique fence’s owner says "uh-uh"--that a man (King) had come by the month before, asking if he could buy her antique fence, that she’d declined.
In this case, it appears that far more than the property lots "had no boundaries" and certainly less than coincidental that Randy King's home address is listed in association with "Duluth Iron Werks". The man is apparently familiar with century-old antiques. A neighbor, in fact, testifies that he'd seen two men enter the woman's property twice, and had called police both times after he'd asked them to leave--following statements from the men that they very interested in the fence and would remove it "if no one minded".
A victim's advocate has asked Randy King to remove the stolen antique fence from his 1906 E. Second Street residential property in Duluth, where the fence is currently installed. King has refused to take down the fence, he says, until there is "authorization"--claiming that otherwise he would be in possession of "stolen material".
Maybe crazier than the whole incident is the fact that the "Diversion Agreement" signed by Randy King will actually allow him to wipe his legal record entirely clean of the felony charges against him--if he continues to meet all probation terms.
King will have that authorization to tear down the fence very soon: the woman's insurance company now owns the antique which will, sadly, have to be scrapped because of damage with original tear-down and installation during the alleged robbery.
An insurance company is now paying for a new fence that's currently being installed on the woman's Duluth property--raising the better question: what insurance company insures and covers a stolen or damaged fence, while a portion of the same damage claim is slated for financial restitution?
The best question: what insurance company is willing to pay the $12,000 replacement cost for an antique fence which is having replacement posts specially cast? An (actually good) neighbor has allowed a fence company to disassemble a portion of her fence, so that the antique posts could be examined in recreating new casts for the stolen neighbor's fence.
"The most expensive part of this thing was to get those antique posts recast."
No one's talking--about what insurance company's involved, but it's the question of the hour. Perhaps, like a good neighbor, it's State Farm. After all, State Farm can even produce sandwiches in a blink--just check out their video ad.