News and Success Stories

Tag Archives: IN

Jewelry stolen by relative recovered and returned

“I recently picked up a case where a family believed a relative stole jewelry from the home while they were letting her live there. I entered the woman’s information into LeadsOnline and immediately received a hit. Sure enough, the suspect sold the jewelry to two area stores. I was able to recover a majority of the jewelry (some had already been sent off as “scrap”) and return it to the family. A majority of the jewelry was family heirlooms, and I was happy that I was able to get it back to its rightful owners.”

Det. Raymond Tice
Franklin Police Department
Indiana

Jewelry store employee caught stealing and selling during her lunch break

“I was contacted by a local jewelry store owner who suspected an employee of stealing jewelry from their store. The store owner asked if there was a way to check and see if this person was selling jewelry in the area. I conducted a search using LeadsOnline of the suspected employee and learned this employee sold 33 items dating back to the first month of employment with the jewelry store. The store owner began to search her files and learned items were deleted out of their inventory and/or placed on older receipts to make it appear that the items were sold. The secondhand business still had 21 pieces of jewelry in store. With the inventory hard copy photos, and the photos of the items at the secondhand business, we matched the items. LeadsOnline helped me compare her time card to show in 26 occasions the suspect took the items and sold them during her lunch break and then returned to work. The total amount reported in the 33 items stolen was $205,480, and the amount we recovered from the secondhand shop from the 21 items returned was $129,976. When the suspect was arrested and told about the evidence dating back to June 2013 with the inventory sheets matching the items she sold, she asked for an attorney.”

Det. Steven Espinoza
Fort Wayne Police Department
Indiana

Nearly 6,000 lbs of metal illegally scrapped by employee

“A local business came to us on Jan. 18 about the suspected activity of internal metal theft. I used the LeadsOnline database to check area pawn shops and scrap yards. I was able to identify that the suspect who worked for the business was the same person who had been making frequent trips to the Indianapolis scrap yards and was scrapping several hundred pounds of metal every few days. The first documented activity started on Nov. 7, and the last reported transaction was on Jan. 11 of the following year. In all, there were 13 transactions documented. When shown the LeadsOnline documentation, the suspect confessed to taking the scrap metal without authorization and scrapping it at an Indianapolis scrap yard. All total, there was 5,668lbs of metal, 47lbs of brass, 193lbs of lead, and 70lbs of other metal; for a grand total weight of 5,978lbs.Criminal charges are being filed.”

Cpl. Jeff Klayer, Detective
Brownsburg Police Department
Indiana

Police recover $28,000 in railroad equipment stolen from major railroad company

“I received a call from a local Railroad Police Agent after he received a tip that one of the employees was selling railroad property here in Fort Wayne. This employee, who is based in Pennsylvania, loaded his work truck up with A LOT of extra equipment prior to coming to Northern Indiana as part of a work crew. When it was all said and done, I was able to locate and recover nearly $28,000 in equipment — base radio’s, complete security camera systems, battery units for crossing signals….the list goes on and on. Needless to say, the railroad company was very happy to get their property and equipment back, and it was all done with ONE search in Leads.”

Det. Joseph Lyon
Fort Wayne Police Department
Indiana

Unknown scrap thief identified with search capabilities of LeadsOnline

“LeadsOnline is an invaluable tool! We were getting hit with scrap metal thefts at a particular business here in Greenfield. I placed a camera in the area and captured photos of the suspect stealing the metal. I was only able to capture a partial license plate of 459. I entered the partial plate and the words stainless steel into the scrap search fields of LeadsOnline. I received a hit on the search and after reviewing the photos posted by the scrap yard, I identified my suspect. Thanks to LeadsOnline we now have another thief off the streets.”

Sgt. Jerald Fortner
Greenfield Police Department
Indiana

Hardware store robbed, items recovered less than an hour later

“While investigating a report of theft from a local hardware store, we completed a search of the surrounding areas. By putting a BOLO on these searches, we were alerted 50 minutes later of a transaction. All of the property was recovered, and the suspect was taken into custody after a vehicle pursuit in a neighboring jurisdiction. LeadsOnline helped clear our case!”

Det. Brian Nugent
Avon Police Department
Indiana

Suspect arrested after renting and selling tools from five separate rental businesses

“Just wanted to pass along another success story. I’m finishing the investigation on a case that started out with my suspect renting equipment from a tool rental business and then never returning it. Thanks to LeadsOnline, I found the suspect sold the equipment to a pawn shop the same day he rented it. The suspect was having the equipment charged to the state of Indiana. After checking further, I found that he sold equipment that he rented from five other equipment businesses over a period of a month. Due to LeadsOnline, we have been able to recover almost all of the equipment with a total value of nearly $30,000. Great work on your guys’ part, and thanks for having a great resource for us to use.”

Det. Larry Craciunoiu
Indianapolis Police Department
Indiana

Escaped Indiana convict and burglar found in Minnesota

“In early September 2011, a homeowner was shot in the back during a burglary and robbery. The suspect ended up being an escaped convict who was drifting from state to state. We located the suspect in early October using LeadsOnline. Within a couple of days, the suspect was captured in Minnesota. He is now back in Indiana awaiting trial for attempted murder as well as other charges.”

Det. Sgt. Shane McHenry
Dearborn County Special Crimes
Indiana

Stolen Xbox recovered, thief and child molester identified via LeadsOnline

“Recently I was able to confirm that an Xbox 360 had been sold to a local retail store that had been reported stolen by an adult victim. During the course of this investigation I also learned that one of the adults that took this Xbox from its owner (who was not home at the time) also molested the owner’s minor child who was home at the time of the theft. I able to use the information of the person who sold the Xbox to locate and interview them and eventually get a confession of Theft, Receiving Stolen Property and Sexual Misconduct With a Minor. Thanks for your help LeadsOnline!”

Det. Troy Pesavento
Terre Haute Police Department
Indiana

Stolen property leads police to murderer

“We were notified of a homicide of an elderly woman who lived alone. The victim was brutally stabbed multiple times, and property was stolen from her residence. A search of the LeadsOnline database showed property that was stolen was sold to a pawn shop in Shelbyville. Upon further investigation, enough information was generated to get a search warrant for the person that sold the property. The murder weapon along with other property stolen from the victim’s house was recovered. This homicide case was solved in four days based on information from LeadsOnline and the bad guy will spend many years in a secure facility, or in other words, prison.”

Capt. Bill Dwenger
Shelbyville Police Department
Indiana

Indiana detectives use LeadsOnline eBay system to identify vacuum thief

“While investigating a significant amount of thefts at our retails stores for the popular “Dyson” vacuum cleaners, we utilized the eBay listings portion of LeadsOnline. We located a local resident who had sold two units within the past few days. As a result of the records provided, we were able to identify our suspect within 15 minutes of the placing the search for our stolen property. The suspect was identified as having sold 11 stolen vacuums and charges have been filed by three different agencies, in three different counties as a result of this information. The suspect was arrested and refused to provide a statement, however the evidence gathered through Leads Online makes this a solid case!”

Det. Brian Nugent
Avon Police Department
Indiana

Stolen laptop for sale online recovered by diligent Indianapolis detective

“Once again Leads has proven to be very valuable. I was assigned a case today and had information from a victim that he had found his laptop on eBay. I was able to use the eBay function on LeadsOnline and was able to immediately find out who the seller was. I was able to make contact with the seller who told me he bought the laptop through craigslist. After just a couple hours after having the case assigned to me, I was able to recover the victim’s laptop which would have otherwise have been shipped to someone who had purchased it on eBay. Thanks again.”

Det. Larry Craciunoiu
Indianapolis Police Department
Indiana

University police find stolen property taken out of state

“Northwestern University police were able to locate six laptop computers were stolen by a former employee by using LeadsOnline. The computers were stolen here in Illinois, and subsequently located in three separate pawn shops in northwest Indiana. The location of these laptops ties in a major part of the investigation to where we could upgrade the charges to a higher class of felony.”

Sgt. Robert Wiley
Northwestern University Police Department
Illinois

Less manual work, easier arrests

“I have had several cases now where LeadsOnline has basically led me to a fairly easy arrest. It has really cut investigation times down for many of the cases due to the information available to law enforcement. It is a great resource in many of my investigations.”

Det. Robert Metcalf
La Porte Police Department
Indiana