The Big Want Ad

Originally Aired: October 4, 1951 Dragnet #121, "The Big Want Ad," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Ben Romero investigating a sophisticated auto theft ring that's been plaguing Los Angeles for over a month. The criminals, posing as representatives of a legitimate car dealership, target private citizens who advertise their vehicles for sale in the newspaper. Their latest victim is Mrs. Palmer, who runs the Greenleaf Day Nursery School. A well-dressed man calling himself Joseph Newhall approached her about her advertised car, claiming to work as a buyer for Dan Barton's Used Car Lot. He left her what appeared to be a legitimate fifty-dollar company check as a deposit, promising to return with full payment. The scheme unfolds when a second man in mechanic's coveralls arrives to pick up Mrs. Palmer's car, presenting her with a check for the full eight hundred dollars and driving away with her vehicle. When she contacts the real Dan Barton dealership the next day, she discovers nobody named Joseph Newhall works there and the checks are worthless forgeries. Friday and Romero recognize the gang's consistent method of operation, but despite having good descriptions of both suspects, the thieves have successfully victimized a dozen people in thirty-three days and remain frustratingly elusive.