DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM People lined up in the basement of the Honolulu Police Department headquarters yesterday to see if some of the stolen property recovered in a drug-related raid belonged to them.

Many stolen goods remain
unclaimed after inspection

Police invited theft victims to view
a stash from an Aiea raid

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

More than 400 people scanned seized surfboards, bicycles, golf clubs, televisions, Hawaiian rings, Seiko watches and other recovered stolen goods yesterday, but only a few people found their missing belongings.

"I was hoping but not expecting (to find my things)," said Dave Golz, who didn't see any of the $27,000 worth of camera equipment and jewelry stolen from his Aiea home last year. But, he added, "I'm glad they had this and we came and looked so we would know."

The Honolulu Police Department yesterday invited victims of burglary and theft to inspect an estimated $125,000 worth of stolen goods seized in a drug-related search of an Aiea home on June 9.

Detective Letha DeCaires said it was hard to say how many successes, or "hits," are made at such stolen-property viewings. Among the items possibly identified by their owners yesterday were a pearl necklace, a watch and golf clubs, she said.

"One hopes for a lot and live with what we get," she said.

"Our desire when we retrieve stolen property is to return it to the rightful owners," she said. "It's a very difficult thing to do. It's difficult enough to solve a case ... and recover the property."

Lt. Derek Shimatsu of the theft and burglary detail in Aiea, Pearl City and Waipahu said part of the benefit of doing the viewing is that it "really gives people hope in the sense that not all is lost ... and that things are being done to resolve their case."

He said people can help police by putting identifying marks on their goods, recording their serial numbers, taking pictures of them and, in cases of theft or burglary, filing a police report.

The items that were not identified by their owners yesterday will be forwarded to the state for auction, the proceeds of which fund law enforcement programs.

Like others yesterday, 63-year-old Christopher Storaasli of Pearl City left without his stolen items. He said he was looking for mostly sentimental things like the Lord Elgin watch his uncle gave him for his eighth-grade graduation in 1953, and the 14-karat-gold necklace his son, David, gave him for no reason at all.

"I went to Circuit City and bought (a replacement) VHS camcorder," Storaasli said. "But sentimental stuff you had for a very long time, that's irreplaceable. That's the thing that hurts."