By Brett Callwood
A Gardena-based plumber had tools worth approximately $30,000 and his van stolen from outside of his home on Thursday, March 28. However the victim, Robert Powell, was left frustrated when the suspect was arrested and immediately released.
As reported by KTLA, home surveillance cameras caught the thief in the act.
“At 4:30 a.m., they came and took it,” Powell told KTLA. “It’s hard to replace $30,000 worth of equipment that has taken you 10 years to accumulate.”
The surveillance camera footage shows two people break into the van and drive it away. The vehicle was later found abandoned, but the tools had been removed from it.
A suspect was arrested for the theft and then released, according to the KTLA report,but Powell’s tools haven’t been recovered.
“I’m angry,” Powell told the station. “I’m just baffled. The crime continues to keep going and going and there is just no recourse… It’s a victimless crime, is what I was told by one of the police officers who came out to my house. That the state of California considers it a victimless crime.”
However, Powell says that his livelihood has been destroyed by the theft. Taking matters into their own hands, Powell and his daughter found some of his stolen tools, personalized within his initials, on OfferUp.
Gardena PD tracked down the seller and got a search warrant.
“They said they were gonna get a search warrant,” Powell said. “They were going to pretend they were a buyer and buy the tools and then serve the search warrant on his house. Every room was packed with tools.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Powell, which can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-k-r-plumbing?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer
