In an astonishing tale of modern-day pilfering, a FedEx employee from Memphis found himself tempted by sparkles and precious metals. This wasn’t about curricular activities; we’re talking about making ‘the find of the century’—or so he thought. Antwone Tate, now infamously known for his rather unique resume addition—“Thief of the Month”—was living the strange dream of a collector’s heist wherein packages would vanish into thin air only to magically appear on storefronts eagerly waiting for a naive collector’s bid.
The saga began on a nondescript day in late May when the duo of Loss Prevention at the Memphis Hub initiated a quest not unlike the sleuth work seen in detective dramas—minus the dramatic music. Their attention honed in on the trail of missing packages. Little did Antwone know, his favorite game of “finders keepers” was about to lead him straight to the unemployment line.
Unbeknownst to our hero’s imaginings of treasure, the FedEx detectives honed in on a pattern suspicious enough to rival the plot of a heist movie. A diamond ring valued at $8,500, a little glitter purportedly meant to grace a special hand, was instead shining bright under the flickering lights of a pawn shop show window. Joining in the pawn shop artist lineup were nearly $14,000 in gold bars, metals that glistened with tales of ancient markets and overly dramatic economic lore, whose path mirrors back to the infallible Antwone.
In a remarkable showcase of one’s belief in flying under the radar, Tate had audaciously used his own driver’s license, the ID equivalent of a confession letter, for these optimism-induced pawn transactions. Not exactly Sherlock Holmes, was he?
And wait—there’s more to this tale of misplaced treasures. A third installment arrived in the form of lost vintage baseball cards, an artifact for time travelers from the collector’s dimension. The missing line-up featured a rare 1915 Cracker Jack Chief Bender, and a 1933 Goudey Sport Kings Ty Cobb, believed to have played left field in the imaginations of baseball history buffs, crumbling under the realization of being penned on eBay by someone content with the username creatives as antta_57.
Nabbing a treasure trove worth about $6,800, Tate had gone as far as becoming an eBay vendor himself. Subtlety clearly not his strong suit; his digital storefront was as openly compiled for memories as a public confession letter.
As fate would have it, Antwone Tate’s brief foray into the realm of larceny was promptly wrapped up with a neat bow in the form of theft charges, a legally noted reminiscence of his triple-play heist. FedEx, after having embarked on their own ‘who Dunnit,’ brushed the dust off their policy manuals to reinforce the ever-pertinent clause against larceny within corporate domains.
In the aftermath of this curious escapade, FedEx, through an official dispatch, extended a friendly reminder: Stealing is not a checkbox on the corporate guide under employee duties. They’d do well to remind future recruits that certain treasures are best left to mystical dreams or bank heists plotted in the safety of our collective imaginations.
For the customers from Memphis to beyond, let this serve as a cautionary tale—next time your package mysteriously disappears, you’d be wise to trust in eBay’s browse history rather than place trust in errant delivery personnel looking for a side hustle. Tricksters of cyberspace, beware; let no future package be lost to rogue mailmen with dreams of grandeur and pockets filled with pawns’ receipts.
And, dotting this solidarity message—we strongly urge you to stay vigilant should an listing pop up courtesy of any ‘Antta_58’. You might just find yourself peeking into tales of error-ridden adventures by someone seeking solace in then-unrealized mischief.
