| Graphic: Philadelphia Daily News |
REWARD: FABULOUS DRUG STASH!, the professional-looking poster reads. It’s no surprise to learn that it came from a full-service ad-design firm, but that doesn’t lessen the WTF impact. It turns out Kurt Shore is really desperate to recover his stolen laptop computer.
As Shore was leaving his Philadelphia ad agency’s office one night last month, an employee somehow tripped the alarm, reports Michael Smerconish at the Philadelphia Daily News. Not wanting the police to pay an unnecessary visit, Shore left his car running and ran back inside to turn off the alarm. A nearby security camera caught him jogging from his car back into the office.
And that tape also shows, in the next 30 seconds, somebody emerging from a nearby vehicle that had just pulled into the camera’s field of view. A person quickly approaches Shore’s car, open’s the driver’s side door, and removes Shore’s briefcase containing his laptop. The thief then returns to his or her vehicle and leaves.
Shore said that in his rush to get home and shuttle his kids, he didn’t even notice the briefcase was missing until a few hours later.
The police were “great,” Shore said, but couldn’t do much to help him.
So he took it upon himself to post the unusual reward for information leading to the recovery of the computer.
Shore denied that he is “profiling,” despite the borderline offensiveness in the apparent assumptions behind the poster. He claims he’s just going with his gut.
And the reward he’s offering, he theorizes, should appeal to the likely “criminal element” who might know who snatched his briefcase.
Hence the headline on the poster, which also sports a photo of some marijuana buds and a pipe.
“Owning an agency, we know how to appeal to the right demo, the right target,” he said.
“So I figured his friends, more than cash, are going to want some pot,” Shore said. (To cover himself legally, Shore’s poster adds, in fine print: “Actual reward may vary.”
Shore insists it’s not a gimmick. He also claims he’s not trying to make some larger point. He said he just wants his laptop back; he had everything from family photos to sensitive business information on there, and he wants to “be smart” in his efforts to get his property back.
“It’s not the value of the laptop,” Shore said. “It’s the value of what’s on the laptop, which is personal pictures, everything you have in there. That’s stuff that’s priceless.”
The poster hasn’t resulted in any tips yet.
