To catch a THIEF .... Feels so good!

chub

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2017
1,503
2,242
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Fisher F75, Minelab Soveriegn XS 2
Nokta pinpointer
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All Treasure Hunting
My wife came home with the children from school on Thursday afternoon. As they pulled up my eldest son (14) spotted someone crouching next to my bed through a very small crack in the curtain. My wife wasnt quite sure so they proceeded to go inside ...to find the whole house ransacked. The back door was open and the keytag on the key was still swinging, so the criminal HAD just been inside and had just left! My wife called me on my cell, I was about 4min away putting some fittings on a tank so hands full of jointing compound. Needless to say I raced down the hillside as fast as possible.
We live on a farm and I run a big building team so I checked in with them...nobody saw anything. Drove over (with my son to possibly ID thief) and checked the nursery and contractors ....nope. We then drove down to our other neighbours who have a substantial security force. These guys are also developing and have 3 contracting crews building houses...nope. On my way in I told the security gaurd what had happened....as I left the site he told me that one of the crews had seen a guy with backpacks heading into the neighbours plumb orchid and vineyard.
Around 30 minutes had elapsed so I didnt have too much hope at this stage. Anyway , as we drive the mile long trip to the orchid my son spots a worker doing something on the plumb trellis. Only problem is its the middle of winter here. No fruit and the pruning is all done!!. As we drove up he took off -with my kids backpacks !! full of cell phones, wedding rings, my wifes jewelery,playstation games, controllers, headsets etc etc.
Hard to describe what happened next but about 15minutes of lost him ,found him ,lost him. Son was calling the heavy security at the neighbours. Describing our location. Think NWA music video meets Dukes of hazzard meet Starsky and Hutch. Ended up running him down and wearing him out. He was throwing bags and phones etc as he realised he couldnt be outrun. A crazy game of cat and mouse. Ended up meeting security in the midst of it all. Dude surrendered but I was so pumped with adrenaline by now I leapt out and grabbed the 45inch Stilson holding all its weight like a baseball bat.
Police arrived. Dude had gang tattoos and two teardrops (double murderer). Anyway we recovered everything except the peridot wedding ring...lost somwhere in the pursuit. Today it was fine and sunny so out with the F75. I have been busy since March with a business opportunity so havent been detecting much. Wasted an hour walking vineyard rows...then decided to be sensible and use my tracking skills. Im no expert but not too bad (was better when I hiked alot). Followed the tracks back and after 45 min or so found a depression in the grass. Got a clean 36 -37 (normally gold is 50/51) may have been the sim card in close proximity?
Anyway, Boom. There it was.
Wife is thrilled, get our stuff back next week.
Work Truck got a punctured radiator and bust one of the shock mounts.
I dont own too much valuble small items and Im not overly materialistic. But all that stuff represents a quite few months of disposable income! After he was cuffed I went to grab the F75 and Nokta pointer and ran them over his stomach and cavity area.No beeps.

Theft is always a faceless crime. But not this time. He was pleading to be let go and said he was just hungry. However ,the fridge and food cupboards were untouched. In his cigarette box was a few rocks of TIk ( meth). I actually felt a bit compassionate - but probably only because I got everything back. If it hadnt ended this way I would probably still be feeling gutted and violated. Im glad it didnt end (or start) in serious violence or loss of life, as it so often does here these days.

All the best

Chub

Does anyone have a similar story to share? When the good guys win and the bad guys lose?
 

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GopherDaGold

Silver Member
Dec 12, 2009
2,817
3,356
St. Charles County, Missouri
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Garrett AT Pro, Tesoro Vaquero, Bounty Hunter Land Star, Teknetics Delta 4000, Minelab Equinox 600, Garrett Carrot
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Glad you were able to recover your stuff! Great story!
 

Rookster

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Nov 24, 2013
29,382
111,597
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Cache Hunting
Bad guy but happy ending. That guy needs more than just a " Drive by Slapping."
 

GB1

Gold Member
Jul 12, 2017
7,428
21,863
East TX
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good you caught that :censored: face
 

dirtlooter

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Jun 5, 2014
8,889
13,497
mid western ARK
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3
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Relic Hunting
glad you got your things back. a thief gets very little for what he or she steals and the loss is hardly ever replaced or replaceable. Some things are more than just material things as they hold memories of greater value that the thief will ever understand. When I was a kid, a house might be broken in where only food and drink were taken but most were after guns and jewelry. Today, it is the guns and jewelry as well as prescription drugs. The only thing the thief was sorry about was getting caught. very sad thing but thieves have been around for thousands of years
 

Kray Gelder

Gold Member
Feb 24, 2017
7,013
12,578
Georgetown, SC
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Fisher F75
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"Watchu doin'? I dint do nuffin'!" A rare ending to a common story. Great job on the rundown! Glad no one was hurt.
 

The1rod

Full Member
Jan 18, 2018
116
363
Hudson co
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All Treasure Hunting
Wow that guy's face looks surprisngly intact! I figured he would have "taken a fall" during the chase.
 

Megalodon

Silver Member
May 13, 2018
2,650
4,373
Maryland
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White's MXT
Tesoro Cibola
Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus
Garrett ADS Master Hunter 7
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Congrats on getting your stuff back. That thief is lucky to be alive.

A couple of years ago, I was on a fossil hunt and found bicycle tracks that looked like those made by my son - who had the habit of taking a very expensive bike to the fossil grounds to save some walking time. But his bike was not where I often saw it left (unlocked). Instead, there were some suspicious characters with a golf cart. They did not look like any fossil hunters i knew and did not appear to belong there since they were looking down in the wrong places. So I made a mental note of their descriptions and the gold cart make and color and then ran into my son who told me he had left his bike at his usual spot. I told him about the suspicious characters and he ran back just in time to see them pull his bike out of the woods where they had stashed it and onto the back of the golf cart. He hollered and gave chase but they outran him on a trail through the woods and into a neighborhood. He called the state police while running and then me. I hiked back two miles to my truck and started knocking on doors in the neighborhood with the descriptions. I got names and an address. We all converged on the house at the same time and the guy came out with the bike and a story about "finding a lost bike" and how he had gone on the internet and discovered it cost about $3K. (he probably knew then that it was not common and might be traced to him if he tried to sell it) My son was noncommittal about pressing charges since he got his bike back and the officer was unsure a criminal charge would stand up against the lying thief's story, so he was not prosecuted.
 

old digger

Gold Member
Jan 15, 2012
7,499
7,293
Montana
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You are fortunate to get your things back, and I believe the timing was just right. Well Done! :icon_thumright:
 

releventchair

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May 9, 2012
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Good catch chub and neighbors!

Hey ,the guy got a pretty/ shiny set of bracelets out of the deal. He ought to be happy with that....

I liked the checking him with the detector part!
 

diggummup

Gold Member
Jul 15, 2004
17,815
10,120
Somewhere in the woods
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Whites M6
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Great story and this ... "After he was cuffed I went to grab the F75 and Nokta pointer and ran them over his stomach and cavity area. No beeps." was classic! I love it!

Little punk is lucky he didn't get seriously injured or dead. I'm sure his future will bring plenty of violence upon him anyway. Doesn't look too tough to me.
 

GB1

Gold Member
Jul 12, 2017
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East TX
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if i caught him he would look way worse than that
 

Aug 20, 2009
12,824
7,899
New Hampshire
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Shiney bracelets do not make idiots learn a lesson,a couple of big bore rounds to the backsides would be much more effective.:laughing7:
 

DeepseekerADS

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Mar 3, 2013
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SW, VA - Bull Mountain
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Back in the middle 70's I traveled for a boiler company. I'd rented an apartment in a less expensive area of Greensboro, NC.

I'd been out of town for a week, and when I came home, I unlocked my door and my apartment was empty, TV, stereo, clothes, small furniture, they took whatever they wanted.

When I looked in the closet, where I no longer had any clothes hanging, I looked down to the back corner and they'd missed a socket wrench set....

I asked the owner, neighbors, whoever and of course no one knew anything. They felt bad for my loss = yeah, right!

I didn't have to move out, I was already moved out - so I got a better place to live.
 

GB1

Gold Member
Jul 12, 2017
7,428
21,863
East TX
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1
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Teknectics eurotek pro
bounty hunter time ranger
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used a teroso compadre.
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Shiney bracelets do not make idiots learn a lesson,a couple of big bore rounds to the backsides would be much more effective.:laughing7:

yep a good life adjustment
 

Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
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Great story with a very happy ending! :icon_thumleft: Glad you were not hurt in all the commotion.
 

Plumbata

Bronze Member
May 13, 2012
1,342
2,189
Wyoming
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White's
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Congratulations on getting your property back and successfully catching and taking that degenerate off the streets and out of the homes of other decent citizens (for a good long while hopefully). I probably would have OD'd on adrenaline in that chase, hah.

Be careful though, since that meth-addicted thieving mudbrain happened to be a "person of color" jeff-gordon might in come in here and call you a racist for posting his picture. :tongue3:
 

OP
OP
C

chub

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2017
1,503
2,242
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Minelab Soveriegn XS 2
Nokta pinpointer
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All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for all the replies. Later that evening I took the head of security and gift. I had to shake his left hand....right was very swollen from where the thief *fell on it....over and over. I can't write too much but a suitable tickle happened. Quite correct that his only regret was getting caught!
Chub
 

Aug 20, 2009
12,824
7,899
New Hampshire
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Garret Master hunter Cx Plus
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Other
Time to arm the wife.Things could of ended very differently.Security or no security.Your best security is on your own hip.
 

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