My question involves criminal law for the state of: Indiana
the situation is I own a rental property. contracted a property manager to "Manage' the property for me. during the time the contract was in effect, there was a change of tenants and new tenants wanted to use their own refrigerator, stove, washer & dryer. the property manager offered to put my appliances in her "storage unit" for a one time fee of $125.00, which would cover the removal and later installation. I agreed. several months later, when those tenants moved out, I asked the property manager if we should put my appliances back in OR just tell prospective tenants appliances are available at 'no additional charge'. the property manager had new tenants signed to a lease and she said 'yes, they will need the refrigerator and stove I will have them installed'.
during that tenants lease, due to many issues, I fired the property manager and hired another company. since I had fired her, the property manager asked me to come pick up my washer & dryer that was in "storage". I had no place to put them myself but I ended up having an opportunity to sell them to some friends of mine. while they were worth more (only 4 years old), I offered to sell them to my friends for $100 for the pair. after making arrangements with the property manager to meet my friends at the location where the W&D were stored, I found that they were not in fact my W&D but a much older pair. I knew this for a fact as I had the owners manuals for mine and they were not even the same brand. I lost the sale and when I confronted the property manager the next day, she stated "oh, I wish I had known that. your's are at my parents house". (why???) she offered to cover my 'loss' and pay me the $100, which I accepted. I just wanted to wash my hands of any involvement with her and her company.
then, at the end of the same tenants lease, they moved out and I found that my stove and refrigerator were not in the house. a different refrigerator and stove were in there. I contacted the new property manager and she assured me that the ones in the house were the ones there when she inspected the property when she took over management and suggested I contact the tenant. when I called the tenant, he stated that 'yes, the stove was his, as the stove that was in the house when he moved in failed....oven wouldn't work......so he called the property manager (original co.) and was told 'thats ok, you can get rid of the old one if you like', which he did. I asked about the refrigerator and he stated that when he moved in, there was no refrigerator but that a guy from the management company delivered that one. that was the only refrigerator he ever had in the house. I contacted the original property manager (the one I fired) and she claimed that my refrigerator was left in the garage, that she never put it "in storage" and that one of the tenants must have taken it. at the time I had no other explaination so that seemed plausable.......until I had new tenants in the house.
once the new tenants moved in, they said the ice maker was not working and that it was making a lot of noise. I came out to look at it and when I pulled it out from the wall, on the back of the unit was, written in a black magic marker, was an address. not mine. when I got home, I 'googled' the address and found out this was a property listed for sale in a nearby city. after contacting the listing agent, I was put in touch with the owner. he told me that he used the same company and property manager as I had fired. he also fired them for removal of appliances from his property without his knowledge. I told him about the refrigerator I had in my rental with HIS address on it. he said that it sounded like I had his refrigerator. he was told by the property manager (after the fact) that it was defective and had to be removed.
when I confronted the ex-property manager about this new info, she denied any knowledge and still insisted that the tenants must have taken my refrigerator and had no idea how the unit from her other rental property ended up in my rental.
Fact: my refrigerator was to be put in "storage' by my property manager.
Fact: property manage stated refrigerator was returned to my property.
Fact: upon tenant vacating property, a refrigerator from a different rental managed by the same property manager was in my rental.
Fact: manager states she knows nothing about this and cannot give a reasonable explaination as to how a refrigerator from another of her properties was found in mine.
so, is this "theft", "conversion" or both? for all I know, my refrigerator may be at her parents house keeping company with my washer & dryer. I contacted the local police and they forwarded me to the county prosecutor. should I pursue this avenue OR file a claim in small claims court?
her final comment was "I don't see why you're making such a big deal about $100 to $200 worth of used appliances". can you believe that?

