A new website calledFoundrop helped a local business find thousands of dollars worth of merchandise that was stolen from its store two weeks ago.
On January 17, Security cameras caught two people smashing a glass door with a small hammer at an Ace Hardware near 22nd and Kolb. Surveillance video shows once inside, the thieves spent less than two minutes to steal about $15,000 worth of expensive knives and gun scopes.
A couple days later, Tucson Police detective Todd Landau says officers pulled over a driver with a suspended license and impounded the car.
"Tucson Police standard procedure... the vehicle has to be inventory searched okay so it is during that process that these items were found in the vehicle," said Landau.
He says those items were then uploaded onto Foundrop, a site TPD uses to post pictures of stolen or lost property in the hopes of returning it back to the rightful owner.
"We started looking and there were 12 knives, I think three scopes, a pair of binoculars and a few other things taken from the store," said Ace Hardware owner Joe Findysz.
Findysz says he was able to find $6,000 worth of stolen property on the site and checks the site periodically to see if more will pop up.
"In this case, the knives that were posted were probably not have connected to a case or if it did it would have been months before it was connected," said Nancy McKay-Hills, TPD's evidence superintendent.
Foundrop allows people to register items with descriptions, serial numbers, and photos. If an item is lost or stolen, owners can flag it missing or search on the database.
Currently, McKay-Hills says the department hopes someone claims a box full of EnerPlex battery packsand a stamping machine.
She says within a few months the department partnered with the website, they were able to give 20 items back to their rightful owner.
