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On Saturday, February 11, My fiance left for work as usual in the morning. She immediately came back in and said "my kayak is gone." I quickly got out of bed and sure enough, her kayak was gone from the top of my vehicle. It was all ready to go for a morning trip. She left for work while I made a report for League City Police Department (LCPD).
Afterwards, as I am sure most of you all know, I posted in every online forum I knew, hoping that with the extensive network of fishermen/ women we have, someone would spot the kayak. A week goes by with no leads.
On Saturday, February 18, I was covering an event at UHCL when my phone gave an alert from Google, where I had set up the alerts from keywords. It had been going off everyday, but this time, the alert was for a "2017 Hobie Mirage Sport." The kayak is not a 2017, but from the pictures, I knew it was mine.
I leave the event early, check it out and sure enough, the kayak on Craigslist was my kayak. The main distinguishing feature is the custom sailing rudder I had got made for my fiance. It was one of a kind and hard to miss. I took screenshots of the post, and saved all the images associated with the listing and forwarded all info to LCPD. I had an event to go to that night and could not follow up on this lead.
However, many of people online did. Members from all the forums posed as prospective buyers and gathered information in my stead. I started receiving dozens of messages and texts each with screenshots of information gathered. In the end, I learned his name, phone number, another posting in Austin, and most importantly, his address. I again forwarded all this info to LCPD. By this point, the listing was deleted.
On Monday, LCPD attempted to contact the individual to no avail and despite all this info, the outlook was bleak. LCPD called me to let me know of the situation, and i'll admit, my heart dropped. Ten minutes later, LCPD calls me back and informs me that they made contact with the individual and they will be going to get it soon. The individual who has the kayak now knows the kayak was stolen and that was very good news to hear.
LCPD went and took possession of the kayak today and returned it to me this afternoon. The individual actually took down the listing because he got spooked from so many people calling and asking about the kayak without committing to buy. He proved that he had bought the kayak from someone else and provided text messages as well as a phone number. The number is one that came up flagged. LCPD called the number in regards to the missing kayak and that person denied having anything to do with it. Hours later, said person obtained a lawyer. Case is still ongoing.
Afterwards, as I am sure most of you all know, I posted in every online forum I knew, hoping that with the extensive network of fishermen/ women we have, someone would spot the kayak. A week goes by with no leads.
On Saturday, February 18, I was covering an event at UHCL when my phone gave an alert from Google, where I had set up the alerts from keywords. It had been going off everyday, but this time, the alert was for a "2017 Hobie Mirage Sport." The kayak is not a 2017, but from the pictures, I knew it was mine.
I leave the event early, check it out and sure enough, the kayak on Craigslist was my kayak. The main distinguishing feature is the custom sailing rudder I had got made for my fiance. It was one of a kind and hard to miss. I took screenshots of the post, and saved all the images associated with the listing and forwarded all info to LCPD. I had an event to go to that night and could not follow up on this lead.
However, many of people online did. Members from all the forums posed as prospective buyers and gathered information in my stead. I started receiving dozens of messages and texts each with screenshots of information gathered. In the end, I learned his name, phone number, another posting in Austin, and most importantly, his address. I again forwarded all this info to LCPD. By this point, the listing was deleted.
On Monday, LCPD attempted to contact the individual to no avail and despite all this info, the outlook was bleak. LCPD called me to let me know of the situation, and i'll admit, my heart dropped. Ten minutes later, LCPD calls me back and informs me that they made contact with the individual and they will be going to get it soon. The individual who has the kayak now knows the kayak was stolen and that was very good news to hear.
LCPD went and took possession of the kayak today and returned it to me this afternoon. The individual actually took down the listing because he got spooked from so many people calling and asking about the kayak without committing to buy. He proved that he had bought the kayak from someone else and provided text messages as well as a phone number. The number is one that came up flagged. LCPD called the number in regards to the missing kayak and that person denied having anything to do with it. Hours later, said person obtained a lawyer. Case is still ongoing.
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