Car Thief at Large (in my neighborhood?)

Maybe I should of called the cops after all? I think I might have seen this guy. Neither the Eureka Reporter or Times- Standard chose to include the guy's picture on their web sites as they did in their hard copies, but I think that guy was stalking my neighborhood. I think it was last Saturday, although I'm not sure. It was a real cloudy day, regardless, and pretty dark outside.

So I'm in my garage hanging out around 3pm'ish, maybe 4. This guy comes walking down the sidewalk on my side of the street. As he passes by my truck he slows just a little and it looks like he's trying to see inside my truck, without looking like he is. Then he walks by the wife's car and seems to do the same.

I can't say for sure that he was doing it but for some reason he really got my attention. The guy was white, maybe six foot tall- more or less- blue jeans and a blue/ black pendleton type shirt wrapped around his waist. He had a dark overgarment with a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath. I could tell because the gray hood was sticking out the top of the overgarment. He had a white baseball type hat and, oddly enough on such a dark and cloudy day, he was wearing sunglasses.

I thought the guy was scoping out our cars to either steal them, or something in them. But hopefully it's over now, as the guy moved on down the street. I didn't go out to see where he went and wondered if I was just imagining what I thought he was doing.

About ten minutes later, here he comes again, on the same side of the street going the same direction. He must have made a loop and came back. He kinda peeks at my truck again and then turns his head to look towards my garage. He stares in the garage for a few seconds as I'm watching him. I imagine he had a hard time seeing in the dark garage with the sunglasses on. Not sure if he could actually see me, or not, but he walks on just like he did before.

This time I go down the end of the driveway to see where he's going and he's crossing the street down by the Nazarene Church. I figure maybe he's gone for good now, having seen me watching him, but wonder if he's just doing a recon and is thinking of coming back later, after dark. After all, I live on a busy street.

About ten minutes later, here he comes again, but on the other side of the street heading south. I couldn't tell if he checked out the cars across the street at the rehab since that was out of my field of view. He walks past the Matteoli's house and turns right at the corner and makes a bee line for Mason Matteoli's car that's parked on Trinity Street across the street from his parents. I step out to watch the guy and he walks up to Mason's car and walks along side it before passing it and entering the alley just a ways behind it.

I was too far to tell if he was actually looking at Mason's car but I thought it odd that he would head towards the car rather than walk straight toward the alley he ended up disappearing down.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid? I don't know. Rather peculiar behavior and I've see literally hundreds of people walk up and down this street over the years. Few have gotten my attention like that guy. I think he was looking to steal something. I thought of calling the cops, but what would I tell them?

Luckily both the wife and Mason ended up leaving in their cars shortly thereafter, leaving mine as the only one left. Of course, I'm sure he checked out other cars in the neighborhood than just ours.

I eventually went inside and forgot about it. Next morning, after I'd been sitting at the computer a few minutes I remembered the guy from the day before and wondered if he'd stolen my truck. I was kind of afraid to look out front and check. Besides, I'm probably just being paranoid. But it kept bugging me until I couldn't get it off my mind.

After about an hour, I'd finally had enough. I went to the window and hesitated, afraid of what I might not see parked in front of my house. Finally I ripped the curtains aside. There sat my truck. Whew! Close one. Had me worried.

I still think that guy was scouting out cars to steal or steal from and it very well could have been that guy in the picture in today's papers.