Police hope to reunite owners with stolen goods found in Chicago home

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - If you've ever had something stolen from your garage or car, you know chances are pretty good you'll never see it again.

But now, Chicago police have busted what they're calling a major west side fencing operation and want to find the owners of hundreds of stolen items.

For people like construction worker Chris Kamyz, it's a game of lost and found.

"Yep, this is mine,” Kamyz said. “I broke this nozzle at a job site."

Kamyz’s 14-hundred dollar power saw was stolen from a worksite on the Northwest Side three months ago. It’s one of more than 700 stolen items recovered from a home in the 5600 block of West Augusta.   

Police say they got a tip that 53-year-old Jerome Brown was fencing stolen property.

"If you drove past his house on any given day there'd be like Home Depot on his lawn. We set up an operation with undercovers. We did a couple controlled sales with stolen goods,” said officer John Bartuch.

In fact, there was so much stolen loot in the house that it was literally sagging under all the weight. The city has now boarded up the property and deemed it structurally unsafe.

Police found bicycles, toolboxes, chain saws, stacks of ladders, wood-chippers, lawn movers, snow blowers, power cords and tables of tools.
   
Now, it's all on display as police hope to reunite theft victims with their property, which they say comes from all over the city and nearby suburbs.

"We want you to come in with an ID, and any form of ownership, receipts and anything like that. Or police reports,” Bartuch said.

Like Curtis Davis, who found his custom-made bike in the stolen stash.

All the stolen property will be on display again Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the 15th District Police Station, which is at 5701 West Madison in Chicago.