Los Angeles, CA – Burglars who ransacked a sexual assault nonprofit’s office apparently had a change of heart once they realized who they had ripped off. They returned the stolen computer equipment along with a note that begins, “we had no idea.”
The San Bernardino County Sexual Assault Services office was broken into the night of July 31, according to authorities. The thieves came in through the ceiling around 10pm and made off with several computer towers, monitors and a laptop.
The following morning at around 4:30, the office’s executive director, Candy Stallings, received another call regarding suspicious activity at her nonprofit. When she arrived, she saw the last thing she could have expected.
“All my stuff was in front of the door,” Stallings said. “There was a shopping cart, and there were the PCs that were taken, there was the laptop – everything was there.”
While investigators dusted for fingerprints, they found a note tucked away in the equipment. It read:
“We had no idea what we were takeing [sic]. Here your stuff back we hope that you guys can continue to make a difference in peoples live [sic]. God bless.”
Stallings was shocked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I was in disbelief, I got chills, I got very emotional.”
Several of the police officers on the case also said that they had never seen anything like it. “This is the first time in my career I have seen the return of stolen items,” said San Bernardino Police Lt. Paul Williams.
The note has been taken as evidence, but Stallings wants a photocopy of it so she can frame it. The guilt-tripping burglars are still at large.