Once Upon A Time, I went to a Pink Floyd Concert in California with a group of friends. After the concert the parking lot was full of people selling unofficial T-Shirts. It was perfectly legal to buy one, but of course, not legal to sell one. I was a buyer. I negotiated a good deal because I wanted to buy 5 t-shirts. As I was walking to my car, suddenly a group of big tough men stopped me, thinking I was selling shirts. They introduced themselves as Federal Marshalls, which turned out to be a lie. They jumped on me, I fell on the floor, and they took the T-shirts. I said that's my property. He "we're Federal Marshalls" (liars!). Thieves acting as Federal Marshalls!
I contacted the Federal Marshalls the next day and they said these men were not Federal Marshalls. They were working for Brockum which was the merchandising company for Pink Floyd, selling T-shirts, concert programs, etc.
I contacted the company by writing to their CEO. I said, look, first off, your guys stole my property, secondly, they mis-identified themselves as Federal Marshalls and I've talked to US Marshall's office and they're not happy about that and are waiting for me to file a complaint so they go after you. What do you want to do about this?
Their VP called me the day he got my letter. After he qualified me as being genuine (I was a professional Software Engineer at the time) he got his lawyer to call me to assess the case and work out the details. The lawyer had some questions, like, how did I know that the attackers were working for the company. My answer: 1) they claimed to be officials (but misclaimed to be US Marshalls). 2) they were confiscating t-shirts from people who were selling them (I was certainly not one of them -- I'm a professional Software Engineer and not a t-shirt seller and I was *not* selling shirts -- I had bought a bunch!) 3) the police department told me they were aware of the presence of the agents of the company. 4) the concert promoter's officials acknowledged their presence 5) the company itself acknowledged their presence.
Furthermore there are witnesses to what happened. I have no doubt they were your agents. I can identify them among a 100 people. The police gave me a copy of the court order that allowed the company's agents to confiscate shirts but the court order said it's illegal to SELL the shirts but I was *not* selling. I was a BUYER, and the police admitted buying the shirts was NOT illegal. Therefore the company's agents had broken the law and had stolen my property.
Then we negotiated the settlement amount. It was monetary plus they sent me 5 official T-Shirts in replacement for the shirts their agents had stolen from me. And they apologized to me. And I dropped the case. The settlement agreement was signed on May 24. I trust the company learned something and next time it will be more careful and not lie to public and not steal people's property.
My initial letter:
To:
Avalon Attractions 17835 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91316 (818) 708-8855
Brockum Company 729 7th Ave. New York, NY 10019 (212) 354-5560
Dear Sirs:
I was assaulted and my property was stolen by your agents, at the Pink Floyd concert on April 17 at the Rosebowl in Pasadena by your agents who falsified their identity as U.S. Marshals. Please see the attached report for a detailed explanation of the incident. As a result, I suffered physical, emotional, and financial damage, and missed work for a few days, and as I am self-employed, I do not receive sick pay. I am still getting nightmares of being terrorized at concerts by thugs. I hope that we can resolve this matter peacefully.
I have filed a complaint with the Pasadena Police Department, and am taking steps to file complaints with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U .S. Marshal, and Rosebowl officials. I have contacted attorneys who are waiting to take on this case in either a state or federal court. I prefer not to go through litigation. I think as civilized human beings, we ought to be able to resolve this matter on our own.
I am a highly specialized computer scientist/consultant with advanced university degrees and ten years of experience (see the attached resume). I am currently consulting for the Administratively Unified Courts of Los Angeles County. I was not selling shirts on April 17, nor have I ever done that in the past. My father is a high level judge and I am a law-abiding citizen with a clean record. I am willing to settle this matter immediately for a payment of <> plus a few Pink Floyd T -shirts. Part of this sum is to compensate me for the days I missed from work (1 earn over <> per hour). However, in court, with the aid of an attorney, I will pursue the full dollar amount of my damages, plus attorneys' fees and court costs.
Please contact me at the above address/phone.
Sincerely,
~~~
On Sunday, April 17, at about 10:45pm, I was happily walking to my car after attending a concert by the musical performing group, Pink Floyd at the Rosebowl in Pasadena, California. I had in my possession five concert T -shirts that I had bought as souvenirs for my personal use and as gifts for friends and cousins. I was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol as I do not drink or smoke.
A man approached me and demanded my shirts. He wasn't uniformed and did not identify himself as any authority .Naturally, I though I was being robbed so I refused to turn in my property to him. I was very afraid. Before I knew it, I was assaulted to the ground by a group of men, some of whom attacked me from the back, and about six men were on top of me. One of them took away my property, another searched me, another tightly held my neck, while the others were threatening to beat me with their ready fists. I thought that there is a good chance that they may kill me.
Naturally I did not resist. After they were done stealing my property and assaulting me, one of them pointed to me with a radio, posing it like a gun and said, "You did the right thing" (for not resisting). Up until I was able to identify the object as a radio -since it was dark -I was sure I was being mugged by a gang at gun-point. I asked, "Who are you guys?" They refused to answer and threatened to attack me again if I asked any more questions.
I struggled to follow them as they walked down the street and noticed that they were taking T -shirts from those who were selling them. I kept talking to them, telling them I was not selling the shirts, asking for my shirts back, asking them their names, agency, and phone number. After being threatening, one of them finally said they were "federal marshals", and they threatened to take me to jail if I asked any more questions. One of them told me to call Pasadena Police. Non of them were uniformed.
I called Pasadena Police that night. The Support Operations unit told me that the muggers were neither federal marshals nor police officers. But they were aware of the seizure operation and they gave me a copy of the seizure order issued by Miami's U.S. District Court which allows the U.S. Marshal, local law enforcement officials, or Brockum's representatives to seize and impound infringing merchandise from those who are manufacturing or selling the merchandise after they are presented with the legal paperwork.
Pasadena Police suspected that the law was broken because of assault, grand theft, and the agents' failure to properly identify themselves. They recommended that I contact the defendants: Pink Floyd promoter, Avalon Attractions of Encino, California, and Pink Floyd's merchandising company, Brockum Company of New York, New York. I contacted both companies. Avalon told me that they noticed the men who were seizing the shirts and they suspected they were either the employees of Brockum who are on tour with Pink Floyd or Rosebowl Security. Rosebowl Security said that they had no undercover agents that night. Brockum Company acknowledged the operation and told me that the men who were seizing the shirts were federal marshals. It is now evident that the attackers were agents of Brockum, working for Avalon Attractions as Pink Floyd's promoter.
The U.S .Marshal Central District of California Chief told me that there was no activity by their agents at the Rosebowl on April 17. The Marshal's office was not happy to hear that others were falsifying their identity as U.S. Marshals, and they encouraged me to file a written complaint.