Port Huron man hopes surveillance video will help catch tool thief

PORT HURON, Mich. (WJBK) - A Port Huron man has lost his work tools to a thief in the night, but has surveillance video that  he hopes will find the culprit.

"My mother had been staying with me because she was on hospice and we had been dealing with her health issues for a while," said James Lynch.

Just when Lynch thought things couldn't get any worse, they did.

On the night of August 25, he rushed out to get his sick mother medication from the drug store and ran inside. He forgot to lock his truck, which was sitting in his driveway on Beard Street in Port Huron.

The maintenance worker woke up the next morning to discover his bag of expensive tools and radio worth around $800 had been stolen.

"I was very upset and angry. Just all the tools you build up over the years doing the different trades. So there's everything in there that could be used for working on a car to hanging stuff up," Lynch said.

Lynch quickly checked his surveillance video, but it appears the thief had his eye on more than the prize.

When he spotted the cameras he pulled his shirt over his head.

First he checked the flat bed, and then the inside of the truck. He grabbed what he could and walked off into the night.

"I was really thought by having the cameras that we would catch anybody like that but to this point, we haven't had any luck," Lynch said.

And then -- more tragedy. A couple of days later his terminally ill mother passed away and his sister, who also suffered from medical complications died Thursday.

"It's been a little gloomy," he said.

Port Huron police took the surveillance video and are looking for the person responsible.

But Lynch is hoping the suspect, who appears to be a stocky white bald man, sees the story and does the right thing..

"I would say just return and it man up and turn yourself in, quit stealing," he said.

If you have any information about this crime, call Port Huron police.