Man gets his stolen car back – full of drugs
By Chris Liedle
Sep 26, 2015
PORTLAND, Ore. – A North Portland man got his stolen car back but he found needles, pills and a trunk full of stuff.
Steve Martinez said he was happy to hear police had found his car but when he opened the doors he was overwhelmed by what he saw and smelled.
“I get in the car and there is drug paraphernalia, there’s drug making stuff in there, there’s just everything you could imagine,” he told KATU Friday.
At 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, Martinez’s Toyota Yaris was stolen right in front of his North Portland home.
“I take my daughter to school and my wife calls me five minutes after I drop her off and says the car is gone,” Martinez said. “I said, ‘Hang up, call the police.’”
Video of the car thief was captured by a neighbor’s security camera. Someone can be seen walking down North Willis Boulevard carefully looking around. The thief notices the running car with no one in it. The thief hops in and drives off.
On Friday morning Martinez got a call. Police told him they had found his car at McDonalds in North Vancouver.
“All I smelled was methamphetamines. I can smell drugs in the car the entire time here,” he said.
When he got home Martinez opened the trunk and found backpacks, clothes, drug paraphernalia and IDs, which he thought could lead police to the thief. He called Portland police several times.
“The only response I get is, ‘we can’t take anything out of your car because you have drug making paraphernalia in there. It’s a hazmat situation. You’re going to have to do that yourself,’” Martinez said police told him.
Martinez said he was in disbelief and wasn’t sure what to do next: clean it up or trash it.
“I’ve got so much evidence here to put the person behind bars,” Martinez said. “(The) most disturbing part is it’s not the car that got stolen and I got it back – it’s that I got to take my kids in this car.”
KATU got in touch with Portland police and was told police don’t normally take things from a recovered stolen car unless the items were clearly evidence of a crime. They did say an officer collected the stuff from the car after KATU’s interview Friday evening.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Man-gets-his-stolen-car-back--full-of-drugs-329631631.html
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Quoted for.. well I guess what the hell.
Real life is far more interesting than fiction.
By Chris Liedle
Sep 26, 2015
PORTLAND, Ore. – A North Portland man got his stolen car back but he found needles, pills and a trunk full of stuff.
Steve Martinez said he was happy to hear police had found his car but when he opened the doors he was overwhelmed by what he saw and smelled.
“I get in the car and there is drug paraphernalia, there’s drug making stuff in there, there’s just everything you could imagine,” he told KATU Friday.
At 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, Martinez’s Toyota Yaris was stolen right in front of his North Portland home.
“I take my daughter to school and my wife calls me five minutes after I drop her off and says the car is gone,” Martinez said. “I said, ‘Hang up, call the police.’”
Video of the car thief was captured by a neighbor’s security camera. Someone can be seen walking down North Willis Boulevard carefully looking around. The thief notices the running car with no one in it. The thief hops in and drives off.
On Friday morning Martinez got a call. Police told him they had found his car at McDonalds in North Vancouver.
“All I smelled was methamphetamines. I can smell drugs in the car the entire time here,” he said.
When he got home Martinez opened the trunk and found backpacks, clothes, drug paraphernalia and IDs, which he thought could lead police to the thief. He called Portland police several times.
“The only response I get is, ‘we can’t take anything out of your car because you have drug making paraphernalia in there. It’s a hazmat situation. You’re going to have to do that yourself,’” Martinez said police told him.
Martinez said he was in disbelief and wasn’t sure what to do next: clean it up or trash it.
“I’ve got so much evidence here to put the person behind bars,” Martinez said. “(The) most disturbing part is it’s not the car that got stolen and I got it back – it’s that I got to take my kids in this car.”
KATU got in touch with Portland police and was told police don’t normally take things from a recovered stolen car unless the items were clearly evidence of a crime. They did say an officer collected the stuff from the car after KATU’s interview Friday evening.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Man-gets-his-stolen-car-back--full-of-drugs-329631631.html
......................................
Quoted for.. well I guess what the hell.
When he got home Martinez opened the trunk and found backpacks, clothes, drug paraphernalia and IDs, which he thought could lead police to the thief. He called Portland police several times.
“The only response I get is, ‘we can’t take anything out of your car because you have drug making paraphernalia in there. It’s a hazmat situation. You’re going to have to do that yourself,’” Martinez said police told him.
Real life is far more interesting than fiction.
