HOUSTON — A Houston business owner's stolen equipment was returned the day after KHOU 11 asked for the public's help.
Security video showed a thief getting inside the Posi Track ASV RC100 at the end of last month on a piece of property off of Mykawa and Almeda Genoa Road. That person could then be seen driving it to a trailer where an accomplice was waiting. Once it was loaded, they took off.
Police did not say who found the equipment, where it was located or if any arrests were made.
Editor's note: The main video in this story is from a previous report before the equipment was found.
The theft had brought Nathan Do’s small construction business to a halt.
“It was right here, so, you know?" he said for our story on Tuesday night. "It was parked here, and then uh, you know, it’s not like it can easily be seen from the street, somebody has to know that it’s here."
Without it, he couldn't do much.
“It pounds fence posts in the ground. It has a bucket that can move dirt, grading, it does a lot of things,” Do said. “Everything stopped, with no machine, no work.”
Security video shows what happened on Nov. 30. At about 11:45 p.m., a man is seen getting into the machine. Do said he thinks the thief used a universal key to get it started.
Once the man got it started, it was clear he knew how to operate it.
“We saw him backing the machine through the gate, right out onto the street,” Do said.
A white GMC truck with a trailer was waiting ready to load it up and drive it away.
Instead of getting another one right away, Do came to KHOU 11 first in hopes that someone watching might help him get it back. That seems to have worked. Police gave Do the news Wednesday that the equipment was found.
The machine, which is worth between $25,000 and $30,000, was not new when he bought it.
“I actually couldn’t afford to buy a running machine. I bought the machine broken and I fixed it,” Do said when we spoke to him Tuesday. “I’m a mechanic, so I put a lot of hard work into that machine so I’m very upset.”
As soon as we learn more about how the equipment was found, we'll post it here.