The Washoe County Sheriff's Office hosted a viewing event Sunday that allowed the public to claim any property they could prove was theirs.
Deputies discovered the stolen property during a recent investigation, as well as cases filed with Reno and Sparks police departments. The Sheriff's office worked with the departments to return the goods, but decided this would be another effective way to get stolen property back to its rightful owner.
Mike Morris is from Golden Valley and his home was burglarized while he was on vacation late last year. Morris found his reloading press, but is still missing tens of thousands of dollars in property.
"I was kind of surprised to find something," Morris said. "You feel very violated after something like this, and it's just a little sweet thing to get something back."
Morris said he's taken extra steps to protect himself since the burglary, despite properly locking his house before leaving.
"I'm much more prepared than I was," Morris said. "I now have a very large safe which things go in and I have video cameras on the house that I can monitor all the time."
Morris was also prepared to reclaim his items, because he kept records of his belongings. Unfortunately his hard drive with those records was stolen along with his other belongings, so he was unable to get compensated for all of his belongings. Still, he recommends keeping a record as long as it's in a safe place, and in some cases going even further.
"Make sure you have an inventory and photographs or video on your phone of all your stuff," Morris said. "Write down your serial numbers I know it's a pain in the butt."
Morris was still able to claim his reloading press thanks to the police report he filed after the incident. Bob Harmon, Public Information Officer for WCSO, says having your police report makes things so much easier when trying to reclaim stolen property.
"You got a case number and a police report," Harmon said. "And you got a itemized description of what was taken, you know that's very helpful in being able to identify property that belongs to you."
Harmon says it was heart-wrenching to see the number of victims that came through the Sheriff's office Sunday looking for their stuff. He says it's just another reminder how prevalent burglaries are in the area, and how important it is to protect yourself from potential burglaries.
If you had property stolen in the Truckee Meadows area late last year, you can email Detective Jenkins at JJenkins@washoecounty.us for an inquiry.
