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The gist:
Last week on Tuesday, August 23rd, we drove into St. Louis, MO to see the Gateway Arch. We parked our motorhome on the street and went to the monument. A couple hours later, we returned, and our vehicle had been ransacked. Someone had broken in and went through everything. They stole around $5000 worth of my family's stuff including the backups of all the pictures I've taken on the trip.
Backstory:
I have a wife and three young children. A couple months ago she was forced to medically retire from the Air Force. She has a life threatening auto immune disease that has progressed to the point that she is no longer able to do her job. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, we decided to sell our vehicles and much of our stuff to go on a big trip to see all the places my wife has always wanted to see before it's too late. We've now been on a trip across the US for the last two months. It's my wife's "bucket list" trip. I being the photographer in the family, have been documenting the trip as well at taking artistic shots along the way.
Below is a list of photography related items that were stolen:
Pentax HD D-FA 150-450mm f3.5-5.6 lens
SN: 4405824
Pentax K-3 camera
SN: 4874168
Pentax Q-S1 camera
SN: 2597021
Pentax SMC DA 15mm f4 ltd lens
SN: 9326206
Pentax Adapter Q for K Mount lens
SN: 5023860
Pentax Q01 w/ aftermarket slim metal screw-on hood attached
Pentax Q03 w/ focus lock helper attached (designed by forum member K10Perry)
Pentax Q06
Pentax FA 50 1.4 w/ aftermarket metal screw-on hood attached
Helios 44-2 w/ genuine Pentax m42 to K adapter attached
DA 15 f3 Ltd w/ broken AF
Tamron 1.5x TC
Focal MC 2x TC - deglassed, and felt-lined
Pentax PTX-L80 Soft Leather Case
Eyelead sensor cleaning gel stick
Dell Venue 11 Pro 7140
SN: CN0CK8N27443152E005G
Dell Venue 11 Pro 5130
In addition to that stuff, they also took my external hard drives with all my copies of the trip pictures, as well as all of my kids' action figues, legos, and stuffed animals.
Two of my stolen items, my K-3 and D-FA 150-450 were sold on ebay.
Pentax K 3 body black 24MP Digital SLR w batteries v p2047675 l2557 | eBay Ricoh Pentax HD D FA 150 450mm f4 5 5 6 ED DC AW Len p2047675 l2557 | eBay
Luckily a forum member has purchased the 150-450 and has confirmed that it is mine.
I've been working with the St. Louis PD to try to locate my stuff and the person responsible. Unfortunately for me the detective assigned to my case is admittedly three weeks behind his case load, knows little about cyber crime, and says my case is low priority. So I'm trying to find my stuff and this guy on my own. Not for vigilante justice, but to do the detective work for the cops that they do not have time to do.
If anybody knows who bought my K-3 or if anybody sees my items, please let me know as soon as possible.
Any info on these items would be of great help.
Regards,
Geoff