PORTLAND, Ore. — A Beaverton is thanking an off-duty police sergeant who tracked down their truck and returned it to them days after it was stolen out of a Home Depot parking lot.
Lori and Gustavo Hernandez-Garcia said the truck was stolen on Jan. 22, when the couple went in the store for about forty minutes. When they came out, their truck was gone.
"We were in shock," Lori said. "We were instantly devastated and sad, also upset and angry."
The couple said they watched surveillance video from a store across the street from Home Depot. It only took the thief about ten seconds to steal the truck, Lori Hernandez-Garcia said.
The truck was locked at the time, she said, but the surveillance video appeared to show that the thief punched the door near the locking mechanism and then somehow got into the car and started it. '
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"The insurance companies never give you what you got into it and what it's worth," she said. "They always give you a certain amount of money but it would not have been enough, we would not have had the money to put into it."
The couple reported the truck stolen to police. A couple days later, Sgt. Ken Feist from the Beaverton Police Department spotted a truck parked strangely inside the St. Vincent Hospital parking garage while he was off-duty and headed to an appointment.
When Feist returned for another appointment nine days later, he noticed the truck was still parked in the garage. He took the license plate number and found out it was stolen, and Lori and Gustavo Hernandez-Garcia got their truck back soon after.
"If we're down one truck, that would be impossible for us to survive through the pandemic," Gustavo Hernandez-Garcia said. "Everything is so expensive right now, so it's very important or us to recover the truck."
Lori Hernandez-Garcia said the truck came back in the same condition as before it was stolen, and nothing was missing from it either. Sgt. Feist saved the day, she said.
"When you're in need, they are there as fast as they can be," she said. "They do all that they can for you and Sgt. Feist really sealed the deal."
To give back, Hernandez-Garcias are planning to donate to the Chaplain at the Beaverton Police Department. The Chaplain gives support to police when they need someone to talk to.
UPDATE: Lori and Gustavo Hernandez-Garcia met with Sergeant Ken Feist and made the donation to the Beaverton Police Department's chaplain fund on Wednesday. Lori and Gustavo need the truck for their yard maintenance company. They said some of their customers donated with them, too, after hearing the story. The chaplain gives support to police officers when they need someone to talk to.