# Knife thief



## steeley

Executive chef has personal knives set stolen
Cutlery valued at more than $4,000, Ingino says.

By Aaron Burgin

Friday, March 18, 2011 at 2:43 p.m.

OCEANSIDE  The executive chef at the Beach House in Cardiff had his personal set of knives stolen from his car this week.

Thats no small theft to a chef. Its like a baseball player losing that perfectly broken in baseball glove or the painter missing a collection of brushes.

Sometime during the morning of March 13, thieves broke into a BMW owned by chef Michael Ingino and stole a set of Messermeister knives engraved with Inginos name, Oceanside Lt. Leonard Mata said.

Thieves also stole a set of kitchen utensils.

The crime occurred on Paseo De Laura near state Route 78 and Rancho Del Oro Drive.

The German cutlery is expensive: initially, Ingino valued the set of 13 knives at $1,500. An insurance adjuster later valued the set at $4,200.

But beyond cost, Ingino said he had a strong personal connection with the set.

Ive collected them over a 15-year-career; one knife was a Fathers Day present from my kid, and another was a 30th birthday gift from my wife, Ingino said.

Ingino served for five years as an executive chef with Andre Agassis Suburban Restaurant Group in Las Vegas before assuming his executive role at The Beach Houses Laguna Beach and Cardiff locations. He splits time between homes in Oceanside and Las Vegas.

He said he was headed to Las Vegas when he saw that his back passenger-side window was smashed, and his two knife bags were gone.

I also had a suitcase in the car, and I was so upset about the knives I forgot to tell the police that it was stolen, too, Ingino said.

A local culinary expert said the theft of chefs knives is both financially and emotionally painful.

Its a personal affront; anyone who gets their knives jacked is not a happy person, said Andrew Spurgin, the catering executive chef at Waters and a U-T Superdiner.

Its not like putting a kid through college, but its a couple of semesters, he said about the cost.

Police said they are searching for leads.

They are engraved, so if we do find them, it will be easy to trace them back to this case, Mata said


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## steeley

That sucks ! but if the insurance guy is willing to give up $4,220 it might take the sting away.


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## JohnnyChance

steeley said:


> That sucks ! but if the insurance guy is willing to give up $4,220 it might take the sting away.



Right. Especially if you use that $4220 to buy some j-knives instead.


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## obtuse

It would have really been sad If he were packing something like niloc's kit. Estimated loss 10,000+? Like you all said, maybe he can put that money to some J-knives =)


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## Eamon Burke

$4k in Messermeisters?! Thats like 50-60 knives!

Now he can rebuild, and buy knives worth investing in.


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## unkajonet

You guys are just brutal...funny, but brutal


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## BertMor

That adjuster is on drugs. " 13 knives at $1,500. An insurance adjuster later valued the set at $4,200." $1500 - around $90 a knife, I can see that easy. $4200 - $300 avg...for a Messermeister!? No f*&(ing way! Thats what ya get for leaving your knives in the car overnight. I NEVER left them in the car overnight, or anywhere. I always took them with me


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## Citizen Snips

ya, if someone wanted to steal my knives they would have to pry them from my bloody, cold, dead hands.

i only bring 3 knives home with me and leave a 4th at work (takayuki GC 150mm wa-petty). i dont even like leaving them in my car while i go inside the filling station to pay for gas. i could not imagine leaving them in my car overnight.

the worst thing of all is that my wife leaves her knives at work all week and only brings them home for me to sharpen on the weekend. i would be a nervous wreck and probably take up smoking again.


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## Bryan G.

Citizen Snips said:


> i dont even like leaving them in my car while i go inside the filling station to pay for gas.


 
Yea after our Sushi chef had his kit stolen filling up for gas I am super Nervous going into the store or getting gas. I always slide them under the seat before I get out the car and like Bert mentions ALWAYS bring them in overnight.

Dude probably thought now he has a BMW he's made it big enough people won't steal anymore.

I even took some knives out of my kit I don't use often and just bring them when I know I will be performing tasks for that knife as I realized my bag was getting expensive. Hell, and not just my knives, built quite a collection of other tools as well.

Bryan


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## SpikeC

Of coarse, bringing them into the store to pay for your gas could cause other issues........................


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## steeley

I have always taken my knifes home and put them in the boot of my car 
then take them in the house.
some times i leave my tool bag at work but only in the office behind two locked doors.


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## Citizen Snips

ya, the other option would be lock them in the trunk overnight. i just think bringing them inside and keeping them on your person is the way to go.

in this respect, i envy the guy who only bought messermeisters because if i still had my whustofs i wouldn't care so much about them getting stolen


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## qvindtar

The exact same thing happened a couple years ago to our assistant GM - he had some "okay" knives stolen from his car, got a replacement valuation waaaay higher than what they were worth, and used the chance to act like a kid in a candy store.

The numerical value certainly seems out of whack for the Messermeisters, but you can't really put a price on the emotional loss on those knives and tools. I wouldn't wish my old school knives on my worst enemy but if they were lost or stolen? Yeah, they're just physical objects, but there's a lot of memories tied up in them. I feel for this guy. (And hope he uses the opportunity to properly upgrade his kit).


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## cannibal

I do kind of feel for the guy. On the other hand, I would never leave my knives in the car...unless it was in the garage and even then I would be sleeping lightly. It's rare to see an adjuster increase the amount of stolen goods! Maybe he had some nice handles put on his knives or something :lol2:


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## Atreidai

This makes me sit back and smile actually...I work in the kind of place where no one would touch my knives. As a matter of fact I am sitting here typing this on my day off, with my suji, paring, bread and boning knives hanging on a magnetic strip over my station at work 45 minutes away...and I know they will be right where I left them when I go back in tomorrow. The only reason the chef and petty knives are with me is so I can tune the edges up this afternoon.

Gotta say though, I can definitely relate, and that makes the ease of leaving my kit in the kitchen all the more satisfactory, I had my motorbike helmet nicked off the handlebars of my bike...a helmet, who the heck takes a bloody motorbike helmet off the handlebars of a bike parked outside a bar! Who? I'll wager it was drunk college kids, that didnt know or care that it was a $300 helmet (glad I hadnt bought an Arai then...), and I will bet it wasnt another biker (that shyte just isnt done...at least around here) but it burned me up bad. I know it was my fault for not using taking it in with me, and I bought a helmet guardian after that, but still, to "us" knives and for that matter bike helmets are sacred objects that are somehow beyond the thought of theft...not so other folk, and that is sad, but true.

-D


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## tgraypots

What, they don't let you bring in bags of knives to the convenience stores where you guys live?


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