Thieves took the car but returned the car seats.
A Coquitlam man whose vehicle was stolen from an auto body shop Friday night said he was surprised to find three of his children’s booster seats sitting in his driveway Sunday morning.
At first, Peter Aragon said he thought the repair shop had returned the items but a call to the business confirmed that the seats would have been in the car when it was taken two days earlier.
“Maybe they are trying to make themselves feel good?” Aragon said, speculating about the person or people responsible for taking his car. “Maybe they are like, ‘He has kids, maybe he needs the car seats.’”
Returning the items would not have been easy.
While Aragon lives close to where the car was stolen, the thieves would have had to dig up his address and find his home, which is located in the maze-like Riverbend Drive housing development.
“That’s the creepy part,” he said. “They would have looked at the insurance papers. My house isn’t easy to find.”
Aragon is the father of eight children and said he appreciated having the seats returned. But he noted that he would like the whole car back, including several important tax documents he had in a compartment in the front door.
“It’s nice the thief brought the car seats back,” he said. “If he really wants to be a Good Samaritan, he could bring the tax receipts back. That’s the only thing that is not replaceable.”
Aragon is asking anyone in the Riverbend Drive area if they have security camera footage that may have spotted his dark-grey 2012 Kia Rio coming into the area Sunday morning.
He said anyone with any information should contact Coquitlam RCMP.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin confirmed police are investigating the theft, adding it is rare that thieves return property they have stolen.
“Sometimes people do have a pang of conscience,” he said. “It is definitely not something you see every day.”
@gmckennaTC
