Bradford

I'll try to make this as short as possible. Had contractors working in my bathroom yesterday which required them to go through the master bedroom to get to. I left a set of keys to my wifes Chevy Tahoe on my dresser. I was away at work and my wife was there but in a seperate part of the house while they were working. They finished up 3:00 and left. I got home early, around 4:30 because we were going to a party to watch the Orange Bowl at 5:00. As we were getting ready to leave, I went to grab the keys to the Tahoe and they were gone. I looked everywhere for them but couldn't find them. So, we took the Tahoe to the party using wifey's keys. On the way to the party I called the contractor and told him the keys were missing, of course he said his workers didn't take them. I was a bit freaked out knowing the keys were there in the morning and now are missing after having workers in my house (there was also a key to my house on the key ring).

Got home from watching the game around 10:30 and continued the search for the keys, no luck. At 11:30 we heard a noise out front and I looked outside and the Tahoe was gone! I immediately grabbed my cell phone and hopped in my car, no not the Porsche, and tried to find the Tahoe, meanwhile the wife is calling 911. My guess was that they were going to be heading south on the 101 (I'm about 5 minutes away from the 101) as the company I hired to do the work in the bathroom was in the valley. I was pretty upset at the time and just wanted to find the guys. I got on the 101 and headed south and within a mile saw the Tahoe. I pull up behind to confirm the license and yep it's mine. The Tahoe is following an El Camino which appears to be his accomplice. I call the wife and tell her to call the police and tell them I am in pursuit. The Ventura County Sheriffs dispatch call me and tells me to stay behind them but not to close. They are going between 70 and 80 mph and I am just sorta hangin back. I stay on with dispatch as he wants to know my location every minute or so. After following these guys for about 10 miles with no sign of Police or CHP, I'm stating to get a little a little annoyed with the dispatcher. He tells me don't worry help is on the way. Finally when I get to the Reseda/Encino area, dispatch tells me to turn on my emergency flashers so the Highway Patrol will recognize my car. OK, I have traveled about 15 miles and finally I see a CHP on the on ramp waiting for me. CHP takes off and then 3 other CHP get in pusuit of the Tahoe and they tell me to back off. All the while I am telling them that they need to pursue the El Camino also. Once the CHP's lights came on the Tahoe took off and we had your typical high speed LA car chase. They went north on the 405 and that was the last I saw of them. I start back home as the Sheriffs are were my house taking a report. On the way home, I get a call from CHP asking for a description of the guy as he bailed out of the Tahoe in a residential area and they couldn't find him. I get back home and the Sheriffs tell me the guys got away but the Tahoe is fine. Sheriff drives me back into the valley to pick up the car and fingerprint. When we get there the Tahoe is up on the curb and just missed a tree by inches. But in it were those keys I had been looking for. Moral of the story is never leave any valuables or keys out when you have workers in your house.

flatair

Wow! your very own "cops" episode, glad to hear everything turned out ok (well except for catching the criminals). They didn't try to take anything else in the house?

fbfisher

Should not be hard for the police to locate the suspects. I assume they will start with your contractor.

How long did it take to get the adrenniline out of your system?

dianic

Wow. That is a bit shocking. I hope the workers were done in your house. And that they wont be coming back again! If they arent, well erm just fire them and get another company to do the rest of the work?
Glad everything turned out ok!

FisterD

Wow, awesome story. I hope they catch the lowlife MFers. I can't STAND it when people F^ck with my personal property. Good luck, let us know how it ends.

ibdavid

Sorry about the incident, doesn't sound like much fun. I can't believe people that do that kind of s$@t.

Randy M '96 Silver 993

I'm glad it worked out for you and you were not hurt. Another moral of the story: Watch whomever is in your house every minute they are working.

Marc in AK

Man that blows. I hate when strangers/workers see my 993 in the garage......I believe they automatically charge me more and have fantasies about pulling a similar stunt.....sounds like a stressful night. AK

kkim

Glad you got your truck back.

Not good about the house key being with the truck key... consider changing the house locks and firing the construction crew.

Man, didn't I just watch this same story on COPS? Sounds like a real bunch of losers.

slapshot

I love this one "... of course he said his workers didn't take them." The beauty is, they should be able to easily determine who it was, so long as the contractor is forthcoming. And even if not, by a quick print match between items on the site and the keys/car, etc. That is a nice grand theft auto charge. Also, day laborers would generally not jeopardize their ability to get continued steady work, so I would start by grilling that contractor and all his subs if I were the Po Pos. Glad to hear nobody was injured. Brilliant thinking in locating them. I sure hope they did not lose both the Tahoe driver, as well as his El Camino back up. Please let us know how it turns out and if they ever catch the perps.

David in LA

That really sux....but glad to hear that you and your property are otherwise OK. Those guys were pretty dumb IMHO...didn't they figure that you would realize who took the keys?

Check this out...put it in an old cell phone, get a prepaid card and hardwire it into your car. Since wireless phone cos can now track down the location of your car they can track it if it's stolen...or you can put one of these inside your teenager's car!

http://bladox.com/prod_motion.php?lang=en

chris walrod

Wow, what an ordeal. Hope they id the scumbags.

This is why I leave my 993 on jack stands, in fact, I took all the brakes off the car (inside joke, I guess)

Randy M

Did they not ask for the El Camino license plate number when you were talking to dispatch?

Revvin_911S

At least it happened while you were home and heard them so you could give chase. If they had come while you were still at the party watching the football game they could have had a couple hour head start. Really sorry it happened though, I dont understand why people cant just leave other people stuff alone.

OldGuy

Amazing how stupid criminals are. Its what makes our society work.