I search in the canadian stolen good database and yes, the saw is stolen.... I will go at the police station this afternoon. You guys are funny.. I wonder if I bought YOUR stolen chainsaw if you would still tell me never mind and to start cutting wood with it. Some people have some kind bizarre criminal sympathy..
Look at the dismal realities that happen stateside at least. Once the cops get the saw, the original owner of the saw might get it back 9 months later, and if they don't get the postcard from the police station, the item will go up for auction. (9 out of 10 times, people get the post card AFTER the item has been auctioned off, scrapped, or some cop moved it to his personal stash). And the criminal will be charged for their time in jail, which has to be paid FIRST before you get any cut of reparations. So we have multiple layers of criminality, the freelance criminals, and the criminals on the government payroll.
The canadian system might be different. But probably not by much. I seriously doubt the crook will do much jail time, you'll be out the cash, and the saw. Maybe they'll make him pay up, eventually. But don't hold your breath.
And you can hope your local police haven't started to emulate the BS they do stateside. Call the cops, you get a case number, and a week later, get to wait in line for SIX HOURS, so you can pay $5-10 for the police report, which you can then turn in to the insurance company. And as the buyer of stolen goods, if you're lucky, you'll get repaid dead last, a few years or decades down the road.
So, it's perfectly understandable that some want to do the "right thing", and others who've tried that often enough to just say, screw it, and run the saw like it was stolen, because it probably is.
