Stolen Gear: Farmers Branch, TX
A parachute was recently stolen from Apex BASE through the use of a fraudulent credit card. This stock item was purchased on our website and delivered earlier this month. Before shipping out stock gear we always open a line of communication with the buyer to verify age, number of skydives, and number of BASE jumps. In this case we had e-mail communication with the customer who verified all of the above in a dialogue that did not suggest anything suspicious. It is our belief that this gear may have been stolen by an actual jumper with a fraudulent credit card, or by a criminal who had enough knowledge to speak a bit of BASE, if you will. To add some additional color, he claimed to be 25 years old with around 400 skydives and 15 BASE jumps. He also gave a weight which would have made the 280 an appropriate size.
The stolen canopy is a black & white UltraLite Lynx 280, SN #20-19280-0016. The canopy is brand new.
In addition to the canopy this person also ordered a stash bag, two pilot chutes, a D30 back pad, and a set of risers. All items that make sense alongside a canopy order.
The name given by this person is "Larry Valdez." He had the gear shipped to an address in Farmers Branch, TX. This is a residence that is occupied, but obviously "Larry" doesn't live there and was using it as a drop address. We had e-mail communications with him at the e-mail address: larry.v@usa.com.
Since receiving this canopy "Larry" has attempted to order another canopy and more accessories, none of which he will be receiving.
If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of this gear we would love to retrieve it.
This will hopefully serve as a cautionary tale to other manufacturers and anyone selling gear over the internet. It's how we all do business but fraud is becoming more sophisticated so be sure to go the extra mile when verifying the identity of the person buying your gear.