Suspected thief is patient of doctor office next door

[trynberg]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Our office is located in a multi-tenant building. We had a small theft yesterday (smart phone) and strongly suspect a patient of the doctor's office next door to our suite. However, the office can not divulge the name of this patient. Is there any legal recourse here? The phone is not worth much materially but has a lot of personal information stored on it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Zigner]

Call the police.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

the office can not divulge the name of this patient. Is there any legal recourse here?

It really doesn't matter if the place next door is a doctor or a head shop. They have no duty to assist you (or even the police) with any investigation.

 

[trynberg]

Thanks for your replies. My apologies for not being more concise. The doctor office next door is owned by the wife of the owner of our office and we are on friendly terms. The staff at the doctor office would divulge the information if they could but feel they are restrained by ethics and HIPAA. I suspect there is nothing that can be done but I wanted to double check.

Perhaps I should call the police; however, I doubt anything would be done as this isn't exactly a small town and this is a peanuts crime in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Zigner]

What do you expect to be able to do with the information if you got it?

 

[xylene]

I have no idea why you are playing detective and have not simply (did not simply) call the police and report the crime.

 

[trynberg]

At this point, I just want to call them and ask them to return the phone with no police involvement.

 

[Silverplum]

At this point, I just want to call them and ask them to return the phone with no police involvement.

What you want and what you're going to get are, obviously, two different things.

So call the cops.

 

[trynberg]

I did call the police. As I suspected, they had me fill out on online report for my insurance. Nothing will be done, which is why I didn't bother to do it yesterday.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Zigner]

I did call the police. As I suspected, they had me fill out on online report for my insurance. Nothing will be done, which is why I didn't bother to do it yesterday.

Thanks for the replies.

You're welcome - sorry we couldn't provide the answers you hoped for.

 

[HighwayMan]

...strongly suspect...

Sorry, that is no basis for a criminal complaint or probable cause for an arrest.

 

[cbg]

At this point, I just want to call them and ask them to return the phone with no police involvement.

And when they/he says, No one here stole your phone and how dare you make accusations like that, what's your next step?

 

[csi7]

I would have surveillance cameras available, and that would provide the evidence needed to identify the thief.

 

[Silverplum]

I would have surveillance cameras available, and that would provide the evidence needed to identify the thief.

In this instance, that's probably akin to closing the barn door after the horse has run away. Or whatever new, non-agronomic saying has replaced that one.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

I would have surveillance cameras available, and that would provide the evidence needed to identify the thief.

Depending on how confident you are that this person is the thief, you could tell the doctor that you have the culprit on video and will not turn it over to the police if the phone is quietly returned.