Facebook connects stolen car with Calgary owner in less than 2 hours
A Calgary woman is singing the praises of social media after her Facebook post helped catch a couple that stole her car.
Jennifer Allen noticed her car was missing from outside her home early Wednesday morning in the southeast community of Mahogany.
"I called my husband downstairs, that's when he noticed there were multiple other things missing, which was a bit of a shock," Allen told the Calgary Eyeopener Friday.
She said it was a shock because the family has a dog, although the deterrent factor was limited.
"We have a big 140-pound Bernese mountain dog and he was on the main floor. They would have had to come in and see him, [but] he is not a guard dog by any means," she said with a laugh.
"I am sure if they gave him a few pats, he probably pointed them in the right direction."
Allen's purse was stolen along with a laptop and her husband's briefcase.
She called the police and while "they were wonderful" she knew her case wouldn't rank high on a list of their priorities.
"So I decided, 'What can I lose by just posting a picture onto Facebook?'" she asked.
Allen posted a photo of the car on Facebook at 10:23 a.m. to multiple groups and pages.
"I literally watched it just take off, every few seconds I was getting a notification that it had been shared," she explained.
About 90 minutes later, it was social media to the rescue.
"Just after noon, I was tagged in a post by a woman. She was standing at a gas station taking a picture of my licence plate and my car with a woman fuelling it up," she said.
A woman spotted the car at a Royal Oak gas station. Royal Oak is virtually the other end of Calgary from Mahogany, almost 50 kilometres away.
Against the wishes of Calgary police, that eagle-eyed witness followed the stolen car from the gas station to the McMahon Stadium area where a HAWCS police helicopter located it, Allen said.
"HAWCS followed it to Kensington and they circled the car and arrested a couple of people that they found in it," she said.
Allen says the car, while still in police custody, is in good condition.
She says in addition to the two people arrested in her stolen car, two other individuals were observed using her credit cards on video surveillance.
"Definitely lock your doors because there are two people out there are pretty brave because they are going into houses with dogs and everything," Allen said.
Given her occupation, she holds no grudges against the people who stole her car and purse.
"I work in the addictions field and I just hope they get some help because I know that addiction fuels a lot of these types of crimes."
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