The BMW Addiction That Completely Destroyed A Man's Life (Jalopnik article)

[B C]

http://jalopnik.com/the-bmw-addiction-that-completely-destroyed-this-man-s-1794882542?rev=1493835607922&utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

Quote

“Before we get to your car questions,” my former next door neighbor, Terrance, said, “I need to tell you both something. My wife left me. My kids won’t talk to me. I lost my job. I embezzled almost a half a million dollars because I’m addicted to BMWs, and have been hiding them all over the state. I’ll probably be going to prison soon.”

This is a pretty astonishing read. Probably the best journalism ive seen from Jalopnik as well. I recommend reading it.

 

[Bassboy3313]

Very good read. Really opens your eyes to what people have gone through and such. Crazy!

[jc43089]

Good article, be careful, it sounds crazy but I can see how it escalates to that point.

[suspenceful]

Thanks for sharing - I thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't expect it to be that long but I couldn't stop reading.

This quote stuck out to me. While it's not entirely true, I do think BMW's are one of the best makes available 

Quote

“BMW enthusiasts are frequently programmed into an attitude that all other makes and models are inferior”

 

[B C]

Everything in moderation. Example: I have to moderate how frequently my E30 is running vs not running..... or something [emoji24]

[Jdesign]

Great read. That's insane. What I find crazy is that there are so many times that people do this when they figure out how to get their hands on money that isn't theirs. I recall working for a client a good 4 years ago, and they were hesitant to spend a lot of money on the project I was working on. Reason being was that of a similar situation. Their lead financial person or whoever, was a lady that embezzled a few million dollars from the company and filled a warehouse full of jewelry and fur coats.

[YoungCR]

Longest jalopnik article ever but I agree very good journalism. A crazy, extreme story but I can see how it lead to that point. Wonder what happens to all the cars and what the full roster was.

[suspenceful]

12 hours ago, YoungCR said:

Longest jalopnik article ever but I agree very good journalism. A crazy, extreme story but I can see how it lead to that point. Wonder what happens to all the cars and what the full roster was.

I was also wondering what happened to all of the cars and parts. If he spent most of the embezzled money on that stuff, you'd think it was a valuable asset for him. Liquidating the cars and parts should've left him with decent amount of cash.

[patsbimmer1]

1 hour ago, suspenceful said:

I was also wondering what happened to all of the cars and parts. If he spent most of the embezzled money on that stuff, you'd think it was a valuable asset for him. Liquidating the cars and parts should've left him with decent amount of cash.

I would assume that any assets that were sold off went towards paying down his restitution or towards his wife in the divorce. 

[B C]

I checked the 2012 streetview map of his former place of employment hoping to see what was mentioned in the story. Leaving satisfied

[Earl]

Very impressed but I also feel sorry for the obsession taking him to that point. Those cars had to have all been sold off but the money would have went back to the employer, correct?

[m42b32]

36 minutes ago, Snap said:

 

I checked the 2012 streetview of for his former place of employment hoping to see what was mentioned in the story. Leaving satisfied

 

 

When I saw that he had 50ish cars I imagined that he had like two or three good ones and then the rest were parts cars. it looks like every single one in that lot is in pretty good shape. I bet the rest weren't bad either... 

[i_love_cars]

31 minutes ago, Earl said:

Very impressed but I also feel sorry for the obsession taking him to that point. Those cars had to have all been sold off but the money would have went back to the employer, correct?

nope. The company could try to sue him but there is no automatic legal precedent for selling the cars to pay back the company what he stole. The rub is that he was taking extra paychecks @ $2500 each to pay off his credit card used to buy car parts. It would basically be impossible for a court to prove that he acquired the actual cars themselves with illegally obtained funds, because by all accounts, he purchased the cars based on legitimate income. 

I read this at 5 a.m. today when my stupid dog woke me up and was amazed at how far people can take 1st world problems. I mean yea you kinda feel bad but the thing that strikes me more is that we live in a society where people are conditioned to be prone to this sort of thing their entire lives, "because 'murica". This is why so many people who end up with high paying jobs end up just as broke as everyone else with nothing to fall back on, because people are conditioned to just spend spend spend when they come into money. Nobody is truly encouraged to save, unless they are talking to a money manager who has a different agenda. 

[REKIII]

This was pretty tragic.  I get the spend spend spend mentality like ILC describes above, I'm guilty of it as much as the next guy, but I've never been inclined to steal money to spend.  That's where I can no longer relate.

I actually feel worse for him that he is now addicted to religion, I mean sure, he feels he is 'helping' people, but he's just really indoctrinating the next generation to believe in an invisible sky fairy.  Makes what he did to his employer seem like nothing.