I am very sorry to hear of your experience and I can feel your pain. My wife is a school teacher and over the years, she has had her billfold stolen out of her purse twice (by adults) while she was out of her classroom. They eventually were caught and we were never out any money but it was a royal pain. We would take off work to go to court and find that an extension had been granted or whatever so that meant we had to take another day off later.

When I have sold valuable items via a newspaper ad, Pennypower, Thrifty Nickel, etc. in the past, I have always insisted upon being paid with cash unless I personally know the buyer. If a potential buyer pressures you to take a check, I'd run away as fast as I could (figuratively speaking); you don't know who you are dealing with. If it is a large amount, I meet them at my bank or some other public place with lots of witnesses.

This guy will eventually slip up and get caught; hopefully, it won't be too long. 99.999% of your common criminals are really, really dumb people. My next-door neighbor is a police officer in the town where I live. She told me once that the majority of the times they make an arrest, in the time it takes to drive the perp to jail, they will have said enough in the police car to make the case!

Good luck and keep us posted!
Bill