Belongings recovered with help from man’s best friend

Published 11:28 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – Some thieves acting as Grinches almost stole the holiday cheer from Rikkal Harstad, but it was saved by man’s best friend.

Harstad was relieved to recover some items stolen from her car last week. The items were found within a day by King County Sheriff deputies with help from a canine unit.

Her long day started on the afternoon of Dec. 13. Harstad walked out to her car during her lunch break from work at the Great Outdoor Clothing Co. store at the Factory Stores at North Bend to find that her driver’s seat was tilted far back from the dash board. Harstad immediately noticed something was wrong and called her boyfriend to ask if he’d been in her car. When he said no, Harstad began looking around for stolen items. She found that her book bag, her CDs, two cameras and a jacket had been stolen.

While losing the big money items was a strain, Harstad was really distraught over the loss of her book bag. Harstad works during the day but takes night classes at Bellevue Community College (BCC). Her book bag had two books worth $140, a $100 graphing calculator and, most importantly, notes for her classes. She had finals the following day and the notes were indispensable and irreplaceable. After giving a report to a King County Sheriff’s deputy, Harstad was so distraught that she left work early and started studying.

“I studied for six hours straight with the biggest headache I ever had,” she said.

Harstad got a phone call the following morning at 2:30 a.m. A deputy had pulled over a car and some items matching hers were found inside. She was asked to come down to the station to make a positive identification of her stuff. Harstad got back her digital camera, which had a photo of the suspect’s friends. She also got her book bag, but none of the books or notes were inside.

Harstad also got to speak to one of the people picked up inside the car.

“I told him I was paying my way through school and asked why he was doing this if I am trying to better my life, even if he wasn’t [trying to better his life],” Harstad said. “I told him he would be forgiven if he changed his path.”

Harstad went back to bed, but got another call at 4 a.m. This time the deputy said they had found her books and some of her notes ditched in the woods with the help of a King County Sheriff’s Office canine unit. When she arrived at the sheriff’s office, Harstad was pleased to find the dog had found not only her books, but all her notes. She thinks finding the notes was nothing less than a miracle.

“I prayed all day about it,” she said.

She said deputies believe the suspects broke into her car, which was parked behind her work, using keys they had stolen. By scraping down keys, potential thieves can gain entry into locked places. It was an audacious break in, especially during the middle of the day.

Other items were also recovered. Deputies were eventually able to find Harstad’s CDs because she had put her initials on all of them. Her other camera, a film model with photos from an event she can’t replace, was never recovered. That was disappointing but Harstad feels lucky about how it all worked out.

“They [deputies] said it is rare to find as much as they did,” she said. “They [suspects] didn’t have the time to get rid of all of it.”

Harstad also thinks she did well on her BCC tests.