Monterey County, CA – Sheriff’s deputies in Monterey County are crediting a Royal Oaks man with helping catch two thieves who stole his $25,000 tractor on Easter Sunday, thanks to a GPS tracking device he had installed.
Mike Lint, the tractor owner, was out of town when his tractor was stolen. Security footage obtained by Action News 8 shows one of the suspects driving off on the tractor in the early morning hours. Lint said when he saw the video, he knew the thieves had made a big mistake. “You picked the wrong house, the wrong guy, and the wrong tractor to mess with,” he said. “Your day is going to end very poorly, which it did.”
Luckily for Lint, the tractor was equipped with a tracking device, leading deputies to a home on San Miguel Canyon Road about two miles away from the scene of the theft. There, they discovered two men in the process of painting the stolen tractor, changing it from red to blue.
“They did a pretty good job, actually, but unfortunately, law enforcement got to them right in the middle of the paint job, so now it’s half blue and half red,” Lint joked.
The two men, Rene Landa, 60, and Jose Gonzalez, 44, both from Royal Oaks, were arrested and charged with possession of stolen property and conspiracy to commit theft. The stolen tractor was one of two taken in recent thefts; the second was found abandoned under a highway overpass in Soledad.
Sheriff’s officials noted that tracking devices and surveillance cameras are vital tools in recovering stolen property. “The information provided by victims is always helpful and makes it easier for detectives to locate and return stolen goods,” said a sheriff’s spokesperson.
Lint added a cautionary note for would-be thieves: “You better think twice with all the security cameras that people have nowadays, and you just don’t know who has GPS tracking devices on their vehicles that you’re thinking about stealing.”
