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Subscribe to RSSKCRA-TV's Damany Lewis reports.
Vacaville, Calif., firefighter Louis Jones thought it would be just another typical medical aid case when he and his colleagues responded to an emergency call at a mobile home. Instead, he came upon a surprise find: tools and equipment that had been stolen from his own home.
"I was almost bewildered, I couldn’t believe it," Jones told msnbc.com on Friday.
The surprise discovery happened Thursday morning on his first call of the day. Jones said he and several of his colleagues responded to a medical call at a mobile home in Vacaville. He told KCRA-TV, which first reported on the story, that the first thing he noticed amiss was a yellow plastic wedge in the walkway. The item looked suspiciously like the one he bought online, which was among thousands of dollars' worth of items stolen from his home last week.
Jones said burglars had kicked in the back door to his garage at night and made off with an ATV quad, boxes of tools, a lawnmower, Christmas goods, kitchen stuff, a washer and dryer and assorted other items.
"When it first got stolen I thought maybe it would be funny one of these days to go to someone's house on medical aid and see your stuff. But chances of that are so remote, and I said, 'Nah, it’d never happen,'" Jones told msnbc.com.
The ATV and other big items weren't at the mobile home, but Jones did notice a case of drill bits and other tools and items that belonged to him. And more of his goods lay outside.
Jones didn’t say anything to the homeowner at the time, but he called police after he left with the other firefighters.
Detectives went to a Vacaville hospital and arrested 47-year-old Ricky Mankini, who was visiting a relative that firefighters had helped that day. The suspect was booked into Solano County Jail on possession of stolen property charges, KCRA reported.
"It’s pretty random and strange that within a week we would go to somebody’s house and my stuff would be there," Jones told msnbc.com. "Out of all houses we go to on a regular basis and all the calls we go to … to have that be a call in my home station’s area and the chances that I was on duty that day -- the whole nature of everything is really out of this world."
Among the big-ticket items still missing are Jones' ATV. What are the chances he'll come upon that in a future emergency call?
"Anything’s possible I guess but it's highly unlikely. I’m sure an ATV quad isn’t something that someone keeps in their living room."
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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LOL!!!!!!!! BEST WAY TO GET BUSTED EVER!!!!!
No kidding.
Karma, just makes ya feel all warm and fuzzy when it happens...lmao
Brings a tear to the eye. I do love Karma.
The only time I had things stolen from our home one of the items was my then 12 year old son's bicycle.
He was certainly annoyed and began his own investigation and, of course, he found everything at the trailer court down the road. He called the police who made the trailer owner open their shed where they found many items stolen from the area.
I would think a trailer court in Vacaville would be even worse. Isn't that the home to a huge prison?
Laura-313822 Good for your son. Its a shame that the police wouldnt bother even investigating a crime like that. too busy hassling citizens and "generating income" on the roads. Perhaps a road flare thru their window at night would make them think twice about stealing next time. just a thought :)
Urban Cowboy - Would that be like the Police Officer that got shot in the head while chasing three burglary suspects in a housing project in Brooklyn, New York the other day?
I am a retired law enforcement officer and I have worked with many great officers that were pro-active, crime fighting machines. Your assertion that cops are too busy "hassling citizens and generating revenue on the roads to bother investigating crimes like that", simply is not true. Your ignorance of operational methods in law enforcement is only surpassed by your obvious dislike for cops. What's the matter, did you apply for a career in law enforcement only to be rejected?
No mike..its just the honest truth. obviously you have started to believe what you see on TV shows about crime fighting. it doesnt happen like that in real life and no the police have never done a good thing for me or anyone I know. I served my Country honorably in the military.
Mike I have to agree with the urban cowboy. And its no surprise, you guys are thicker than thieves. There is a reason its called the blue wall, and all of us are on the other side.
Mike... thanks for your service as a police officer. Some of us do appreciate it.
That said, I have been told that bicycle theft is a very low priority for police departments. Same with cell phone theft. My daughter had her cell phone stolen in school and most kids knew who did it. The cops wouldn't even investigate. Granted, I live in a county of 900,000 people and a 14-year old having her cheap cell phone stolen isn't a huge deal. But it was dis-heartening to hear the police tell us that they wouldn't ask the kids at school what they knew and they wouldn't approach the kid that everyone was saying stole it.
Now, if that same kid had brought a marijuana seed to school.....
Harold,
Doesn't the school she attends have resident officers?
I have worked a little in law enforcement and have been in the military for almost 24 years, so I have worked along side law enforcement as a recruiter assigned to local high schools, I know, brings up some old Army Recruiter cliche's. Most of the high schools in my area (Wichita Ks) had law enforcement officers assigned there, at least two at each school. Granted, the smaller schools didn't but they only had a student body of between 100 to 200 students.
I would be surprised if the police refused to deal with something like that, if they are assigned there.
In regard to officers "hassling people and generating revenue," I have seen areas, usually smaller populations, where that happens.
I was pulled over southeast of Amarillo Texas on 286 by a trooper for 3 miles over the limit...he flew through the median to catch me! It was absurd.
I was over the limit, so I paid the ticket, but I've never had an officer give me a second look for anything under 5 miles, let alone get a ticket. Both of my parents and my brother have been pulled over in the same area over the years, and never for more than 5 miles over the limit.
I have to agree with Urban Cowboy as well. Take the bar my BF works at. They've called the police several times asking for help to get rid of the thugs slinging coke, but the only time they ever show up is to raise money for brace a child. They always get in a Karaoke song or two as well. They always seem too busy to respond when the employees finally catch someone in a deal and kick them out, only to have the thug threaten to bring in a gun (forcing them to close shop for the night/weekend/week and lose revenue and tax revenue). I guess they’re too busy sitting down the road in blackout mode waiting for speeders to worry about little things like coke dealers and death threats. I understand though! I wouldn’t want to deal with drunk drug dealers either if I could get away with sitting in my nice warm car, running radar.
And no, these aren’t highway patrol officers – these are sheriff’s deputies. I’m sure that there are many very honest, dedicated police officers out there, but there are crooked lazy ones, too.
a marijuana seed in school? Oh the horror....
thanx mike for your yrs as a cop. just like all types of people live in trailer parks, the same rule follows , for the ghetto,nothing more than an uban shelter for the poor who pay what they can afford, rest on behalf of the taxpayer. free abortion clinics help keep the rich people in control. where are they located? people live where they live, good honest people because its what they can afford. yet you same judgmental people who love to refer to others as any type of trash "white" related feel somehow vindicated.
same time crying about violated rights? how about the peoples rights you violate with your so called refrencing? hill billy redneck is racist. so is trailer trash, ghetto grime, and what have you. you set yourself a class of race, with color, and pretend it isnt racist, lol.
Urban Cowboy- It is obvious you have well deserved pride in your military service to our country and I respect you and thank you for that. You seem to think you have cornered the market on knowing the "truth", and of that I am doubtful. My opinion of law enforcement is based on living the job for nearly 25 years and much of that time being spent in supervision. As for TV crime shows, I generally do not watch them unless they are documentary and non-fictional.
During my time in law enforcement, I by in large, worked with dedicated professionals that worked diligently and honorably. Yes, as in any profession, there are some that are less than stellar, but they usually do not last.
With regard to so called "petty" crimes, they do sometimes fall into low priority regarding response, but that is most often because of other criminal matters that need immediate attention during staffing shortages. I make no attempt to speak for every cop from every agency, but most do great jobs in what is certainly a very difficult line of work.
Mike, thank you for your service. It always stuns me that people are so anti law enforcement. I have friends that are LEo's and I have to say they don't get paid enough.
Harold, Mossdog, & Nana,
Thanks for the support and kind words. I believe that law enforcement officers have it tougher now than ever before. The number of duty related deaths is rising, and assaults on police officers are commonplace. I pray for my Brother and Sister Officers and hope to God that I never have to attend another funeral for a cop killed in the line of duty.
Very few outside of officers and their families really understand the duties, and related pressures realize by those in law enforcement. Many are continually poised to critique and denigrate the actions of law enforcement, but will seldom give a compliment for a job well done. It is particularly troubling to read some of the comments on here by people who would never have the intestinal fortitude to do the job. Like I said, there are far many more good cops than the small number of bad ones, but we all know who gets all the attention.
Karma is a bitch...
Stranger than fiction!
To Firefighter Jones.... Great job!!!!!! I hope you find the rest of your stuff.
To Ricky Mankini... yeah.. as Forrest Gump famously said... "stupid is as stupid does".. what a loser.
Glad you found your stuff. you should have your friends put a serious beatdown on this as*hole (while you are with plenty of witnesses of course Its the only justice you will see. Our courts wont do crap to them.)..and BTW..great job of doing nothing as usual, police. God Bless Firefighters!!
Like the song goes: "God works the mysterious ways" - I call it "the synchronicity:)"
Good Job Firefighter Jones!
The sad part is that this is how a lot of robberies are solved, blind luck.
thats a fact. getting harder to feel sorry for cops when they get their stuff stolen. always feel sorry for a emergency teck when harm comes their way.
Excellent! The old Karmic touch is nice!
That's hilarious! I once had a little crack-head girl that lived next door try to sell me my own tools, that she had just taken from my buddy's truck across the street!(He had borrowed them that morning, left them in his truck) When I told her they were mine, it didnt phase her a bit, she just said "oh, well, you can have them I guess"!!
If it wasn't for his stuff being there.. he should have let the thieves trailer burn to the ground. Kharmic retribution.
Where is the fire?
Now to make that story perfect. Sparky (the dalmation) needs to bite the thief !
It IS ironic that the thief had no problem with wronging this firefighter to his own advantage, but when his relative had an emergency, who was there to help, and was willing risk his own life to save them? The very person who they had wronged! You can be sure that the thief wasn't man enough to help.
Mmm. unlike my former hometown where the Firemen were seen running into the front of the burning structure and filmed by the FBI coming out the back end of the house just as quickly and filling their automobiles with loot from the burning house and drive off by their relatives....
Ricky Mankini?! Ahahahahahahahahaha! What an interesting name. He will be popular in prison.
If the guy needed the stuff that bad to break into the firemans house, the fireman should have just let him keep the stuff, be the nice thing to do.
And you should just take every pay check you make in the future and hand it over to some poor homeless person along with all your personal possessions, be the nice thing to do......
Poetic justice. Love it.