Too Bad I Take Things Seriously-Chapter 624 - 239: Crime of selling stolen goods, the melon seller was caught!

As soon as this incident occurred, her best friend was nearly driven mad with anger. She had just submitted a real-name complaint letter, and before she could receive a reply, this situation arose. Left with no other choice, she could only turn to Qin Mu.

In the nursing home, Qin Mu thought for a moment and began to type his inquiry, "Don’t panic just yet. I’ve always been puzzled about something. Why do these elderly people... need so many pumpkins?"

According to Qing Lan’s description, these elderly people would sneak into the pumpkin patch to steal pumpkins whenever they had the chance. Under normal circumstances, even if a family ate pumpkins with every meal, they wouldn’t consume a large amount—at most two pumpkins a week. But these elderly people were using carts and woven bags for transportation, clearly not for personal consumption.

"My best friend said... it seems like people in their village are taking them to sell in town," Qing Lan quickly replied with a message.

When Qin Mu saw this message, a smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "Then you can tell your best friend to report it to the police."

Qing Lan was taken aback for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, she typed back with a wry smile, "Reporting it is useless. The officers are afraid of these brazen elderly people and simply don’t dare to touch them."

Only a few seconds later, Qin Mu sent her another message, "Who said to report the elderly for arrest? You can report them for the crime of handling stolen goods—which is now legally defined as the ’crime of concealing or disguising the proceeds of crime’—and ask the police to deal with the selling of the pumpkins."

In the message, he detailed how to report the crime. Reporting to the police requires certain tact and legal grounds. Sometimes, if you don’t report the crime effectively, the police may not consider all the possibilities. Take this situation for example: the pumpkins were stolen by the old people, and the police’s admonitions were fruitless as they didn’t dare to do anything to the elderly. But the act of taking the pumpkins to town to sell constitutes the crime of handling stolen goods, that is, concealing or disguising the proceeds of crime.

Many years ago, the crime of handling stolen goods was replaced by the crime of concealing or disguising the proceeds of crime. It refers to the act of harboring, transferring, buying, selling on behalf of others, or using other methods to conceal or disguise knowledge of the proceeds from crime or the profits generated from such proceeds.

For those who assist others in selling stolen goods, if the circumstances are minor and the amount is small, they shall be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance, and may also be fined or solely fined. If the circumstances are serious and the amount is large, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.

Using this method offers an indirect solution. If the elderly can’t be dealt with immediately, you can target those who help them sell the pumpkins! These elderly people are all in their seventies or eighties. They hardly ever trek long distances to the town to sell them. Usually, it’s their relatives who run the errands.

「Meanwhile.」

In Zizhou, at the Zhaojia Village pumpkin fields, Qing Lan clenched her phone tightly, extremely excited. Qin Mu’s suggestion had opened a completely new door for her. They couldn’t target the elderly, but they could target those selling the pumpkins!

"Qing Lan, then... what did that expert say?" Next to her, Hu Wenning tugged at her sleeve, asking nervously.

"There’s a way," Qing Lan smiled slightly and repeated the method Qin Mu had taught her. "We use the surveillance footage to report the crime. Then we demand the police help retrieve the pumpkins, while also providing leads about those selling pumpkins in town. We’ll clarify that their actions violate criminal law, constituting the crime of concealing or disguising the proceeds of crime!"

According to regulations, for crimes proven with evidence, the police station must file a case and handle it according to the law. And those selling the pumpkins—most of them were the relatives of these elderly people! Without the "umbrella" of old age, it was a sure catch!

"I didn’t expect we could do this..." Upon hearing this, Hu Wenning was equally excited. She didn’t know much about the law. When faced with problems, she often felt confused and panicked. But Qing Lan’s "friend" always managed to pinpoint the criminal actions of the other side and break through effectively.

These grassroots law enforcement personnel are afraid of taking responsibility and dare not act against the elderly. But others must be handled according to the law.

"This time we have ample evidence and clear legal provisions. If they still refuse to act... we’ll continue with real-name reporting!" Qing Lan took a deep breath and spoke with a resolute look in her eyes. On this matter, she had truly mastered Qin Mu’s teachings. Some things should be pursued relentlessly, rather than just muddling through and swallowing grievances!

「In Zizhou.」

At a certain town’s police station, Station Chief Zhou Yuantu was staring at the three police officers in front of him, looking somber. His face was filled with anger. In the office, he spoke in a lowered voice, his expression very displeased, "Look at what you’ve done! Both the inspector and the supervision department have called me, asking what’s going on with your failure to enforce the law! How exactly did you handle the case of the elderly stealing pumpkins? The complainant has filed a real-name report accusing you of negligence and failure to enforce the law!"

Standing in front of him were three regular police officers, the ones responsible for dealing with the pumpkin theft incident. At this moment, all three looked utterly baffled, taking a good while to grasp the situation. It seemed they’d been reported, and even the oversight authorities had gotten involved.

"Zhou Suo... I, I... we were just following your instructions, weren’t we?" one of the officers said with a bitter smile, feeling very wronged. "Those old people are too unreasonable; they don’t fear us at all. As soon as they see us, they lie on the ground, complaining of pain here and there. We didn’t dare to provoke them too much."