News and Success Stories

“This morning I received an email notifying me that a stolen computer had been pawned. The serial number had been placed in LeadsOnline by the night shift patrol. The computer had been stolen at a local hotel on Monday. Within a couple of hours, the computer was recovered, and I had a suspect ID. The suspect was arrested within a couple of hours of receiving the notification.”

Det. Brook Nichols
Mountain Brook Alabama Police Department
Alabama

“On two separate occasions I have been able to solve thefts from Guitar Center immediately after searching the serial number of the guitar in LeadsOnline. The first case I found that the guitars had been sold to another Guitar Center store. Neither Guitar Center store was aware of the theft until the manager contacted me about missing guitars in an inventory. The second case the guitar was sold to a local pawnshop. I was also able to find video of the thefts after finding out through LeadsOnline when the guitars were sold.”

Det. Thomas Eisenbraun
Goodlettsville Tennessee Police Department
Tennessee

“LeadsOnline does it again! I had been investigating a case where an individual had used a social media platform to contact a victim regarding the sale of an item. When they finally agreed to meet, the victim provided the cellular phone to sell and the suspect provided cash, which unfortunately turned out to be counterfeit money. The account holder on the social media platform had been changed, therefore we were unable to identify the suspect via social media. The victim provided the IMEI number for the device and that number was entered into NCIC. A few days later, sure enough the IMEI number hit as the phone was sold to an ecoATM outside of my jurisdiction. I contacted ecoATM and requested the property to be returned to the agency so it could be returned to the owner. Not only that, the subject involved was identified based upon the images from the ecoATM. LeadsOnline solved another case for me.”

Cpl. A. Calore
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office
South Carolina

“Our agency took a report of a theft of a cell phone and attached credit cards. Using LeadsOnline, we were able to locate the phone and quickly identify a suspect. We later learned the victim had a significant amount of fraud that we may not have otherwise solved without the help of LeadsOnline!”

Sgt. Ryan Utt
Gahanna Ohio Police Department
Ohio

“There was a burglary at a closed business. The owner had passed away and the inventory was going to auction as part of the owner’s estate. Thousands of dollars of equipment was stolen from the business. A couple of months later, I was able to narrow down the list of stolen items. However, there were no serial numbers attached to the stolen items list. I did some searching on LeadsOnline for the makes and models of some of the stolen items. In doing so, I found a pawn ticket that included items from the burglary case. I was able to partner with the agency in the jurisdiction where the items were pawned. That agency was able to serve a search warrant on the suspect’s residence, finding more of the stolen property, including a stolen CAT skid steer loader. Having LeadsOnline as a resource allowed me to solve a high-dollar aggravated theft case.”

Off. Jonah Kopp
Grants Pass Oregon Department of Public Safety

“Suspect stole a work van with multiple tools inside. He was arrested within 24 hours in the van. A week later it was discovered several hand tools were missing from the van. A check of LeadsOnline immediately revealed the stolen tools had been sold at a local pawnshop by the same suspect. The items were recovered and additional charges filed on the suspect. The LeadsOnline system worked flawlessly! The pawnshop manager deserves a shout out for doing business the way he should as well!”

Off. Ken Perry
Montana State University Police Department
Montana

“I located $30,000 in stolen jewelry using LeadsOnline and was able to recover it and reunite it with the rightful owner! I then found multiple other pieces for other cases, one of which also ended with reuniting the jewelry with the rightful owner!”

Dep. Jessica Yates
Boulder County Colorado Sheriff
Colorado

“I used LeadsOnline to locate the details of an OfferUp user that stole a phone in violation of grand theft. I used these details to obtain a search warrant that ultimately identified the driver and suspect vehicle. During an interview of the driver, he revealed the suspect seen on video footage stealing the phone. Both suspects have been arrested and my case was submitted for filing. I could not have done it without LeadsOnline.”

Det. John Martinez
Placentia California Police Department
California

“On 08-03-2022, my PD responded to a theft at a funeral home. The suspect (an employee) was developed due to his pawn activity through LeadsOnline. It was further revealed that he pawned a second item stolen prior to the first being discovered, which resulted in felony warrants requested for his involvement including a charge of Disturbing a Grave or Tomb.”

Det. Sean Grant
Palm Springs Florida Police Department
Florida

“A check of LeadsOnline for over $3,000 worth of chainsaws was met with positive results! Our offender had brought the stolen saws to a local pawnshop and sold them. The company had reported the incident late and the pawnshop had resold the saws, but we were able to ID the bad guy! This case would not have been possible without LeadsOnline! You guys Rock!”

Det. Robert Deko
North Branford Connecticut Police Department
Connecticut

“On 10-16-22, I signed up for LeadsOnline access in order to further investigations as a patrol officer. On 10-25-22, I was dispatched to a larceny from residence case. I put the suspect’s name in the search fields and within 15 minutes of dispatch I had located all of the stolen items over 3 different pawnshops in our city. The items taken were not replaceable as they were jewelry belonging to deceased parents. Within 3 hours all of the items taken were returned to the owner. Thanks LeadsOnline!”

Off. Eric Hart
Hampton Virginia Police Department
Virginia

“I utilized LeadsOnline to corroborate the identification of a suspect that has shoplifted at numerous large box retailers resulting in large dollar losses. I was able to determine who the suspect was because she pawned items and was pictured wearing the same shirt that she wore during one of the thefts. An affidavit for her arrest has been submitted to the County Attorney’s office.”

Det. Sherry Gooley
Omaha Nebraska Police Department
Nebraska

“I worked on a phone theft case and was able to recover the stolen phone from an ecoATM kiosk. This lead was developed through LeadsOnline. The suspect used a proxy to sell the phone. The photos provided by LeadsOnline for the transaction clearly shows the suspect standing next to her proxy selling the phone at the kiosk. I was able to locate and question the proxy. There was enough information to file charges on the suspect and retrieve the stolen property and return it to the victim (who was very happy).”

Dep. Matthew Williamson
Monroe County Indiana Sheriff
Indiana

On Monday, August 8th at 0739 hours, I took a theft report. Victim was missing an air compressor and generator. At 1310 hours, I located the suspect, along with both items, which I had returned to the owner by 1700 hours.

Chief Brett Smith
Valley Nebraska Police Department
Nebraska

“Officers stopped three subjects in a truck with suspected stolen power tools. All three subjects denied possessing them. We determined the items were stolen from a Home Depot. We utilized the OfferUp search via LeadOnline and found the items. We also determined the correct person to charge. We saw previous posts with the items and pictures of him in the background. The suspect just recently plead guilty to possession of stolen property ($2,300).”

Det. Austin Martinez
Placentia California Police Department
California

“A phone search was conducted on a phone number which was not in our records management database. The phone number was entered into LeadsOnline, and an address was developed from that search. The search led to the arrest of a violent and dangerous fugitive.”

Det. Daren Reynolds
Lincoln Nebraska Police Department
Nebraska

“A passenger lost his $1,315 wedding band at a Tampa, Florida, airport ticket counter. Video revealed that the ring was picked up by an unknown passenger. That passenger flew to another state but was later identified. I entered the name into LeadsOnline and was able to quickly and easily locate the ring in a California pawnshop. Unfortunately, due to the time it took to identify the passenger, the ring had already been scrapped. Although the investigation didn’t end with the recovery of the property, I would not have been able to locate the missing ring as fast as I did without LeadsOnline.”

Off. Curtis Smith
Tampa International Airport
Florida

“I am a detective working a theft from a victim’s home, where a suspect stole a safe. There was not any video evidence of the crime and I was running out of leads. I spoke with the victim again and asked for any further information on the items that were inside the safe. The victim described in detail a ring that was a family heirloom that belonged to her grandmother. The victim did not have a picture and I requested a sketch of the ring. I found the suspect had sold some items to a pawnshop and I responded with the sketch in hand and was able to positively identify the ring at the shop. I called the victim and informed her that I had successfully recovered her family heirloom and she was so thankful. Thank you LeadsOnline for the assistance with this case.”

Det. Chad Carter
Travis County Texas Sheriff
Texas

“I’ve successfully used LeadsOnline in three separate cases. I’ve tracked down several pieces of musical equipment at different locations throughout Columbus, Ohio. That has led to charges on a person I’ve had as a suspect for years but was unable to charge till now. I’ve also used it to track down gaming systems. And just recently, I used LeadsOnline to track down tools from a B&E at a construction site. That has resulted in several charges as will. Thank you!”

Det. Casey Conley
West Jefferson Ohio Police Department
Ohio

“In May, I signed up for the service. During my first case with LeadsOnline, I located stolen property, closed out multiple cases, and took out 7 warrants.”

Ofc. Sal Leone
Thomasville NC PD
North Carolina

“Detective Joseph Lyons, of the Fort Wayne PD, called me yesterday and advised me of possible stolen chainsaws at businesses in his city. I contacted the victim and was able to identify three of his chainsaws on LeadsOnline. Great collaboration between agencies and of course it could not have been done without LeadsOnline!”

Det. Stacy Sexton
Auburn IN PD
Indiana

“I was walking through the patrol room and overheard a complainant tell an officer about his stolen laptop computer. I obtained the serial number, brand name, and model and decided to check LeadsOnline. I had obtained a hit on the stolen computer and suspect information before the initial report was completed.”

Chief Inv. Barry Smith
Pass Christian MS PD
Mississippi

“League City and surrounding agencies have had several thefts and burglaries of optometry businesses over the past year. During the investigation, I was able to identify a suspect now known as the “SUNGLASS BANDIT”! A check of LeadsOnline showed that since June of the previous year, the suspect traveled the state stealing sunglasses and selling them in the areas where he steals them. According to LeadsOnline, the suspect had sold 427 sunglasses at 88 different businesses for a value of $22,000. A warrant for his arrest has been issued and he will soon be placed into custody.”

Det. Recie Tisdale
League City TX PD
Texas

“An individual contacted my office saying they had information on a male that was breaking into houses and taking items. I was informed that the male had sold several items taken from a house in the southern part of Shreveport, Louisiana; however, he did not know the address. I looked up the male on LeadsOnline and found the items I was told came from a burglary. I used the items to locate a victim. The day the victim’s house was broken into was the same day his wife passed away. The victim was so happy he was in tears to get his wife’s jewelry back. Thanks to LeadsOnline, I was able to verify the information I was given and make an arrest in this case and make a man very happy to get his belongings back.”

Det. Melissa James
Shreveport LA PD
Louisiana

“With the help of LeadsOnline, I located two more stolen iPads which were sold out of state. The suspects lives in Florida and traveled to Mississippi on two separate occasions to pawn the stolen IPads. 13 iPads were initially stolen and, with the help of LeadsOnline, 3 have been located so far.”

Det. Gilbert Galloway
Pensacola FL PD
Florida

“A few months back, we had a rash of residential burglaries. There was one suspect tied to several different homes. We caught the guy by running the stolen items’ serial numbers in LeadsOnline. Just about every item he stole, he would sell it at nearby businesses. LeadsOnline is a great tool. My department uses it very, very frequently. I would totally recommend any Law Enforcement agency to get linked up with LeadsOnline.”

Det. Billy Mccauley
St. Landry Parish LA Sheriff
Louisiana

“I was following our agency’s Person of Interest list. A known drug addict had recently sold a Kindle Fire at our local Cash Land. With further investigation into this suspect, I was able to determine that the Kindle Fire was indeed stolen. It also led to locating jewelry that had been stolen and sold by this same suspect. With the investigative tool of LeadsOnline, I was able to recover these items, return them to the victim, and bring charges against the suspect.”

Det. Nathan Huebner
Van Wert County OH Sheriff
Ohio

“A burglary occurred where several tools were stolen from a shed. The victim could only speculate that one of her neighbors was the suspect, due to past interactions and side work. I ran the suspect’s name through LeadsOnline and sure enough, he had sold those specific tools at two area businesses. Upon further investigation, another neighbor actually saw the suspect back into the victim’s driveway the day of the burglary. Of course, with all of them being neighbors, our witness didn’t think much of it.
Because of the cooperation between the businesses and LeadsOnline, we were able to obtain warrants on our suspect and return the stolen items to our victim.”

Sgt. Kevin Hoffman
York City SC PD
South Carolina

“I first started using LeadsOnline in September, and we had a report on a brand new Cub Cadet stolen September 12th. I remember coming in on the 13th and seeing this report, so I ran the serial number and had a match within a second. That doesn’t sound that cool or exciting to some with years of experience, but to me, that was the best day of my life. I had only been doing investigations for a few months, and had just been released on my own, so it was my first solved crime thanks to you all. This was only the beginning, because my suspect appeared to be trying to break a record with how many trailers, dirt bikes, and lawn mowers he could steal and sell in the shortest amount of time. Needless to say, he was arrested shortly after and went to prison for a few short months, but I kept up with him and it wasn’t two weeks after he was released he was back at it harder than ever. It took a couple months for him to make his way back into Polk County, NC, where he went on another rampage and he was hitting us every other day. We chased him for months, along with other agencies from North Carolina, South Carolina, and even the US Marshals Service got involved once he pretty much kidnapped our CI. So yes, this was the most fun I’ve ever had on a case, and I got to meet and make great friends and contacts through those months. We were able to close out around 20 cases in the end. I’d like to say thank you and without you all at LeadsOnline, we would not have been able to keep up with and track his whereabouts long enough to get the other agencies involved and get him back in jail where he belongs. Also, I’d like to thank Rutherford county, NC, Cherokee County, SC, Greenville County, SC, and mainly Spartanburg city and county guys for the endless hours, car chases, search warrants, and helping get the Marshal’s Service brought in. Thanks again for everyone’s help, and I hope everyone has had the experience that I’ve had with LeadsOnline.”

Det. / Sgt. Jay Turney
Polk County NC Sheriff
North Carolina

“While investigating a burglary complaint I created my suspect as a person of interest. I received a notification that he had sold the stolen jewelry. He was later arrested for Burglary in the 3rd Degree.”

Det. Sean Murphy
Orange Police Department
Connecticut

“In July, Officer Randall was dispatched to a theft from a construction site. The victim advised he left his iPad on the fifth floor of the site. When he returned the next day he discovered a plywood wall kicked in and his property stolen. The investigator received photos that showed the tag number to suspect’s vehicle. Officer Randall ran the suspect through LeadsOnline and learned that he sold an iPad to an ecoATM machine. The victim gave the investigator the serial number, which matched the same serial number to the stolen iPad. Investigator Robeson sent Kroger a request to retrieve the item. An arrest warrant was issued for the suspect and the victim received his iPad.”

Lt. Brendon Barth
Atlanta Police Department
Georgia

“LeadsOnline did it again. Another happy homeowner receives property back after LeadsOnline was used to locate the stolen property. All three suspects were identified and charges sought.”

Sgt. K Weir
Oakland County Sheriff’s Department
Michigan

“A local cellphone business was broken into and several phones and cash were stolen to the sum of $3,000.00. The suspects in the case left town along with a female believed to have been forced to go along with them against her will. Thanks to Leadsonline, I was able to locate them and obtain photos of the missing woman selling some of the stolen phones. By seeing the missing woman and knowing that she was okay, it helped her family greatly.”

Det. Jay Myers
Findlay Police Department
Ohio

“A bicycle was reported stolen and entered into NCIC. I ran the bike through LeadsOnline and found that it had been sold almost immediately after being stolen. A great tool that helped us charge the thief and get the property back.”

Det. Jeff Mellman
University of Northern Colorado
Colorado

“I have been investigating a burglary and located a person of interest. Throughout the investigation I was able to determine that the person of interest transferred property to his girlfriend who subsequently sold the items. I was able to determine this based on associate information through LeadsOnline. I was able to return the property to the victim.”

Cpl A. Calore
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department
South Carolina

“I am investigating a residential burglary case and located the stolen laptop on your site. The next door neighbor sold it within two hours of the victim leaving her home. Thanks!”

Det. Paul Hulbert
Shorewood Police Department
Illinois

“Last month, I recovered a laptop computer in Tacoma, Washington, that was stolen from a vehicle burglary in my jurisdiction back in 2015. Thank you leadsonline.”

Det. Nicholas King
Citronelle Police Department
Alabama

“In August, I was assigned a theft investigation that occurred within Indian River County, Florida. During my investigation I developed a suspect and determined that he had stolen one gold wedding band with “Happy Anniversary 1911” inscribed on the inside, one gold cross, one 14 karat white and yellow gold heart dolphin pendant, one yellow/white gold Greek style pair of earrings with one diamond on each earring, approximately $7.00 in quarters and one .22 caliber American Arms Revolver. With the victims item description and their records retention of the firearms serial number I was able to locate all stolen items at various businesss and return them to their rightful owner within days of being assigned this case. The suspect currently has warrants for his arrest.”

Dep. Aaron Scranton
Indian River County Sheriff’s Department
Florida

“Oue suspect sold an Xbox One to a local business that was stolen during a residential burglary. The suspect’s name was searched via LeadsOnline and we were able to find the stolen property. Thanks LeadsOnline!”

Det. Jess Thomas
Wood River Police Department
Illinois

“I worked a burglary in Charleston County where two guns and a weed eater were stolen at the end of 2015. A fingerprint was obtained at the scene and eventually came back to a suspect. Using LeadsOnline I was then able to quickly determine that the suspect had sold a matching gun at one business and then the weed eater at another business on the day of the burglary. The gun, which had been passed down to the victim by his father, was recovered but the weed eater was not due to the lapse in time. The suspect was arrested and eventually went to trial where he received 15 years for the burglary and 10 years for obtaining goods by false pretenses.”

Det. Timothy McCauley
Charleston County Sheriff’s Department
South Carolina

“We were working a series of daytime residential burglaries and developed a suspect. Our agency was relatively new to LeadsOnline and I was just starting to utilize some of the features. I created a person of interest of our primary suspect and within days I received an alert. The suspect actually went across the river 90 minutes away and into the neighboring state to sell this item to a business. Without the POI alert from LeadsOnline, we likely would not have known that this occurred. With that information, and along with other facts gained during the investigation, a search warrant was executed and numerous burglaries were closed across several jurisdictions. One burglary was even discovered before the victim was aware of it since they were out of the country for their honeymoon.”

Sgt. Yon Abel
Linn County IA Sheriff’s Department
Iowa

“St. Charles Police issued a bulletin looking for help to ID a suspect. The suspect looked familiar to me so I ran the name I thought it was through LeadsOnline but it came back negative. So I ran the stolen phone info and it came back with the actual suspect selling the stolen phone to ecoATM, as well as 22 others in the area. I notified St. Charles PD of the information and ended my involvement.”

Det. Rich Meszaros
Plainfield Police Department
Illinois

“While I was working with the features in LeadsOnline, I discovered an individual selling multiple brand new cell phones to several ecoATM machines. During the investigation, I learned that the subject was an employee of T-Mobile and was stealing the phones and selling them. He sold over 30 cell phones In 1 month. Total property recovered was over $22,000. He was confronted and admitted to the theft. T-Mobile did not have any idea that this was occurring.”

Det. Alan Koenig
Norfolk Police Department
Virginia

“I had two different cases where $500 backpack blowers were stolen and sold on the same day of the theft. One blower was sold locally and the other blower was sold in another county. There were two different suspects involved in the cases. With the help of LeadsOnline the blowers were located and returned to the owners within two days of the theft.”

Det. Gilbert Galloway
Pensacola Police Department
Florida

“While investigating a string of BB gun vandalism cases, we were able to trace the suspect’s vehicle to a local Walmart. When reviewing the video from Walmart, it looked as though two college-aged males stole several BB guns and a hoverboard scooters. Loss Prevention at Walmart was able to identify the products, and a search was conducted for those items using LeadsOnline. LeadsOnline showed the scooter was located at a business, having been sold the very next morning after the theft, while an air rifle was sold later in the afternoon at another business. This information was extremely helpful in identifying the suspects and taking them into custody where both males admitted to committing the thefts, the pawn transactions, and the numerous counts of vandalism.”

Det. William Jarrett
Port St. Lucie Police Department
Florida