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Thief Steals Mail & Leaves Laminated Llama Photo

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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The modus operandi is the weirdest part of this case. I'm not sure what significance the laminated llama photo had or what message it was supposed to convey.

Family's mail stolen, replaced by laminated llama picture
A West Virginia woman is warning neighbors to beware after her mail was stolen and replaced with a laminated photo of a sunglasses-wearing llama.

Staci Tinney said she was confused when she looked into the mailbox at her Charleston-area home last week and found nothing but a laminated photo of a llama wearing sunglasses.

Tinney reviewed security camera footage and spotted someone in a black pickup truck removing the mail from her mailbox and replacing it with the animal photo.

Tinney said she reported the incident to police and warned neighbors, who told her that someone else had encountered the same truck in a nearby parking lot.

"Someone told them the police were looking for them, and they left -- but not before showing them a picture of a llama and saying they were handing out wedding invitations," Tinney told WCHS/WVAH.

"We don't know anybody who knows a llama personally and definitely no one who gave us blank pictures of a llama as a wedding invitation," she said.

Tinney said she believes her mail was taken as part of an identity theft scheme. She said vandals were previously caught on camera stealing trash from her outside bin as part of a suspected identity theft attempt.

Other residents of the neighborhood have also reportedstolen mail in recent days.

Charleston police said mail theft is a federal crime. They said the investigation is ongoing.

Familys-mail-stolen-replaced-by-laminated-llama-picture.jpg

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/1...y-laminated-llama-picture/3541539023842/?sl=3

(EDIT: Added photo)
 
I don't understand why anyone would steal the identity of someone from West Virginia. That is just mysterious.
Not only that, it's a bit a-llam-ing.
 
The only contemporary connotation with llamas (in terms of currency/exchange) that I'm personally-aware of is within the highly-regarded/ popular art& graphic design site https://www.deviantart.com

Its members (of which I'm one) 'give' each-other electronic llama tokens/badges as recognition of creative work that deserves support. Within the lexicon of that online world, active members (of which I'm not) consider 'giving a llama' to be a highly-desirable credit in response to meritorious (or needful) circumstances.

I've always assumed that (in addition to the obvious value and importance of real-life llamas in an animal husbandry sense) the use of llama symbols as virtual tokens of esteem must've pre-existed within popular youth culture in North America prior to their observance at the advent of the DeviantArt forum. Perhaps that's not the case, and DA is the only sub-stratum in western society within which people consider that the iconic 2-D image of a llama is to be venerated (albeit in a quasi-ironic way)?

My hypothesis observation may be entirely-tangential to this incident: or not.

llama_by_puppy2388.jpg

Llama by Puppy2388 of DeviantArt
 
At least it's a llama. Could have been worse. Could have been an alpaca.
 
... I've always assumed that (in addition to the obvious value and importance of real-life llamas in an animal husbandry sense) the use of llama symbols as virtual tokens of esteem must've pre-existed within popular youth culture in North America prior to their observance at the advent of the DeviantArt forum. Perhaps that's not the case, and DA is the only sub-stratum in western society within which people consider that the iconic 2-D image of a llama is to be venerated (albeit in a quasi-ironic way)? ...

I always thought the llama badge was a DeviantArt-specific in-joke ...

https://www.deviantart.com/giveallamagetallama/journal/Llama-FAQs-and-Information-350934797
 
I always thought the llama badge was a DeviantArt-specific in-joke ...

Well, perhaps, especially with the bow-ties/sunglasses options. And all those strange ranks. They have become a Pavlovian passion amongst the DeviantArt tribe.

But: I've always wondered if Llama lionising perhaps derived (say 20yrs ago, pre-DA?) from some consolidated Valley Girl / Ska8r Boii argot meritonym.

Almost in the vein of "don't have a cow, man" (a sentimental opprobrium from the post-neoclassical era of television).
 
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