Man Finds Neighbor’s Stolen Car Day After Theft

Warwick, RI – A Bend Street man has an alert neighbor to thank for the return of his red 1989 Chevy pickup after the samaritan spotted the truck in a parking lot on Narragansett Parkway Aug. 10, a day after it was stolen.

On Aug. 9 at 1:30 p.m., Officer Robert Canis-Langlais was called to 120 Bend St. for report of a stolen truck, a 1989 Chevy K1500 pickup.

The owner, Joseph Pereira, 46, told the officer that he had last seen the truck in his driveway at 1 a.m. that morning. When he left the house at 1 p.m. that day, he said, he realized the truck was missing.

Canis-Langlais entered the truck into the RILETS stolen vehicle database, but he needn’t have bothered.

The next day, Aug. 10 at about 10 a.m., Officer Joseph Dedonato was called to 1146 Narragansett Parkway, where Chris Clarke, Pereira’s neighbor, had followed a tip from a a man who said he’d spotted the truck in a parking lot there, according to the officer’s report.

Clarke had posted about the theft on facebook asking for help finding the truck, the officer reported.

Clarke said he met with the tipster, who pointed the truck out to him, and contacted Pereira, who could not leave work to retrieve the truck. Clarke then called Warwick Police to the scene.

Dedonato called Warwick Detectives to the scene, and they found what appeared to be fresh finger prints on the driver’s side door and window. Detectives processed the evidence and turned the truck over to Clarke.

Clarke returned the truck to Pereira’s home.