DETROIT (WXYZ) — Valencia Daniel said the news of her damaged fence spread quickly. A viewer connected the dots concerning a stolen skid steer driven by the culprit who damaged Daniel’s fence.
Some time Monday night, someone ditched the machine in an alleyway near Garfield and Grandy. That's one mile from where it was stolen.
VIDEO: Surveillance video of the stolen skid steer:
I followed up with the company that owns the equipment, Munaco Landscape.
Zach Lloyd, with Munaco Landscape, said, “Hopefully we get down there, and everything’s good with it. So, as soon as it aired, she gave me a call and said that, ya know, somebody called her. They knew where the location was. So, I couldn’t be more thankful for that.”
One hour later, Domenico Munaco arrived to test it out. He’ll be the first to tell he had his doubts that the equipment would be recovered.
Munaco popped the lock box on it.
"The key's still in it. That means he hot-wired, or he had a key. These keys are very common so,” he explained.
Munaco successfully started it up.
He exclaimed, “We got a machine!”
The landscaper was thankful it wasn’t already parsed out for parts.
“That machine is about $60,000," Munaco said.
“I’m honestly really surprised (it was found). Really grateful for it. Like I said, we all work hard to get nice stuff. Our crews work hard," he said.
Ms. Daniel said, “I appreciate you all. The news reporting this and the neighbors looking out for one another."
After making her voice heard about an injustice against her and her property, a vigilant citizen heard and spotted the equipment being stashed.
She's thankful, at least, the landscaping company has been made whole and she's still hoping to receive a little help herself.
"I’m just glad that they found the equipment and I want to get my fence, I want my fence fixed and I wish we could find the criminal that did it," Daniel said.
She added, "I’m just happy that this is a happy ending. That they found it.”
