Everything that was in the truck was still there, except for the contents of the glove box.  I signed an optional section of the stolen vehicle report stating consent to search if found.  Another jurisdiction found it and again asked if they could search, which I consented to.  The cop who called said there was a bunch of tools in the back and I told him there wasn't anything in the canopy.

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So a bunch of tubing cutters and other plumbing tools some of which I'm not familiar with.  Looks like a swager, some deburrers, not sure about the valve thing.  A set of four gear pullers.  A pair of snips, a nearly full box of trash bags, a box of sheet metal screws, a kit of heat shrink tubes, and an assortment of wire nuts.


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There was also a bag with some snowboard bindings, a heat gun, some extension cords.  Then another kitchen type trash bag that I was about to toss but spotted another large ziplock bag inside with what looked like a matchbook collection or something.  So I opened it up and it was a bunch of little ziplock baggies or vials of seeds, all labeled with names.  I looked up some of the names and the seed prices were listed at $3 - $10 per seed.  As best I can tell you can't sell pot seeds so I tossed 'em.

Those are HVAC service tools.

By tossed, I hope you mean in to your Garden

I was sort of thinking that.  I guess HVAC guys would need to pull gears off of fan shafts and such.  Any idea the purpose of the valve with the rod that goes through it?

Nope, no interest.  I kind of used to believe in a general equivalency of dope and booze.  But I just see a lot of time-wasting unmotivated pot users that are somehow worse than heavy drinkers.  My opinion, don't really care what the pot advocates say.

Was perp caught? Otherwise, wouldn't the cops want to look for fingerprints etc?

Is it legal to grow it for personal use up there?  If so I would have been tempted to try it and stash it away if so.   Good barter item if SHTF.

Dibs on the sheet metal screws.

I love sheet metal screws.

Stealing copper out of HVAC systems for more weed.

I don't disagree. I am not a pot user. I do live in a green state though. If I had a handful of expensive seeds, I'd plant and try to sell. That does bring up it's own set of issues though.

No on his neighbors lawn who he dislikes.

you know that shit is all stolen too.

The image is a little hard to make out, but I believe it is a valve core changing tool, allows you to change a valve core without draining the refrigerant.

No stigma or even any likelihood of being busted.  I wouldn't want to have had to go looking for someone to sell them to.  Or the SHTF scenario would just draw in a pothead copper thief.  No thanks.

Dirty Mike and the boys send their thanks

Yep and so did the cop.  I don't believe it's feasible to figure out who they were stolen from.

You can only grow those seeds if you have a permit. Its perfectly legal to use pot but to grow it you need a license (Either as a grower or a medical exemption).

If any of the seeds said gorilla glue you should properly dispose of those in my trash can.

That makes sense.

I'm betting they were stealing HVACs

OP was lucky that he did not get stabbed by those pot needles.

I was thinking catalytic converter theft tools.

MJ smokers....

Now, who was it that said....MJ smokers didn't lead to more crime?

Aloha, Mark

Sounds like thief may be involved in building and maintaining grow houses...legal or otherwise.

Yep, and I have never met a junkie in my life who didn't smoke weed as their gateway.
Lowers the inhibition to take illegal drugs.
   

The cops searched the vehicle & left the pot seeds?

That seems odd.

Ain't worth it now, with the current price of copper. You'd need a whole truck load to make any money, and it'd take you a month to get that much.

Look more like HVAC service tools than a ductman's, to be sure.

Screws ought to be 5/16 or 1/4 self-tappers. Take a look at the top of 'em, Daggers and Hilti are real good, they run through heavy gauge shit like butter. But if they've been riding around in that case for any length of time, every fuckin' thing in there is going to be as dull as a donkey's dick. Still, good screws to have for running through any kind of thin steel or pot metal.

Those ratcheting wrenchs looks like Craftsman. 3/8 and 7/16? The older ones are real good, some of the new ones made overseas suck. Those style are a PITA, too; the switch is in the perfect spot to knock the damn thing to the wrong side when you're cranking something down.

Those snips are meant for heavier gauge stuff. They'll cut any sheet metal you're liable to work with, so long as they're still tight.

Not illegal as far as I know. 

Glad you got your truck back, OP.

Bingo. Git one in my toolbox in the van

looks like tweaker stuff

yup.  I had my car broken into... cops called me about a month later and wanted me to identify some loose change.  that was the last time I talked to them, cuz I hung up.  NO bullshit.

The glovebox was empty huh?  Did you keep your registration and/or insurance in there?  Anything else with your name and address on it?

If so, congrats...some tweaker will be paying your house a visit soon!

That's about what happened to me, back in 2001... Truck was stolen, somewhat stripped, and a bunch of stuff taken from other thefts was left in the bed when it was found in Tukwila. Little assholes stole it in Dupont, drove to Aberdeen, ripped off a bunch of folks out there, and the way I know that is because some fireman's bunker gear was left in the bed from where they'd stolen it out of his truck in the Park-and-Ride near Aberdeen. By mileage, and the receipts from the convenience stores they hit we found, I could damn near tell you exactly what route they took my truck on. Fucking little assholes--I know it was teenagers, based on the purchases. Typical stoner crap--Pot paraphenalia all over the truck.

What's aggravating is that the cops just don't care--As far as they're concerned in this state, auto theft is a victimless crime. I could have gotten video from half-a-dozen stores these clowns stopped at, because I had the receipts with the time and date stamps for when they were there, but nooooooo... Cops weren't interested in doing the investigation, and the reason was that the one detective they had assigned to vehicle theft in Tukwila basically said that it was a waste of time to turn anything over to the prosecutor up there. He was telling me that he'd had cases where the thieves were caught in broad daylight, in stolen cars, with the evidence right there in the car, and the prosecutors up there would refuse to prosecute them for grand theft auto. Plus, the penalties in Washington state are so petty as to be a waste of time.

Basically, the state wants auto theft. They don't do a damn thing to stop it. Most of the guys doing this are known, and have been doing it for years. There are little hot spots all over the South Sound, out in the woods, where you can go find stolen cars and all the parts. Freakin' ridiculous.