DENVER – A couple were robbed of their cell phones, wallets and a laptop on Saturday morning while they were working on their garden and thanks to an iPhone feature they were able to get most of their belongings back.
Jodi and Andy Stemple were cleaning their vegetable garden and lawn in their home on Emerson Street and 3rd Avenue when one of them decided to take a break.
Then the two noticed that someone had taken their things.
“We looked at the footage of the doorbell and then it was a shock,” said Andy Stemple.
Ring video shows a Denver couple robbed while working in their garden
Their ring doorbell camera video showed a man they have never seen or met without hesitation walking through their front door and into their house. The door was unlocked because Andy Stemple went in and out while he worked on the lawn.
“I was literally in the front corner of the yard when that happened,” he said.
Although the ring video doesn’t capture the suspect leaving the house, the couple say he walked through a dining room window.
With the Find My app on their son’s iPhone, they were able to follow where the suspect took his belongings.
“We went through this phantom find [My] Chase to find him and every time we got there he was gone, “said Andy Stemple.
The couple got one last chance when the app revealed their phones were in First Bank on North Broadway and East 6th Avenue. They caught the suspect trying to cash one of their checks. A cashier declined the transaction.
Outside the bank, the Stemples confronted him and managed to get him to return their phones and laptop, but he left before they got their wallets.
“I’m glad we made it. I think it’s just the way we are. We’ve been through things like this before,” said Jodi Stemple.
It took about two hours for an officer to arrive, they say, and what he said when he got there made them a little perturbed.
“‘If we catch this guy with your excellent material, he’ll be locked up for a day and the prosecutor will let him go,'” Andy recalled the policeman telling them.
They fear that this criminal will do this to someone else again even if caught.
As the Denver Police and Metro Denver Crime Stoppers get the word out, the Stemples plan to carry on as they have been and perhaps watch over their shoulders a little more often while they are gardening.
“You shouldn’t let someone else decide what your lifestyle will be like in your own home,” said Andy Stemple.
Denver police say the suspect also broke into someone else’s home that morning and stole their 1990 Mercedes 190E sedan. This is how the couple saw him drive as he sped away from the bank.
If you have any information that might help detectives, contact Crime Stoppers. A reward of $ 2,000 is offered.
