BRANTFORD -- A Brantford man’s post has gone viral after he went online asking for help locating personal belongings he says were stolen.
He posted about the alleged theft on Facebook Monday night, his post now being shared more than 31,000 times.
Ryan Chatterson says he arrived at his family’s machine shop Monday morning, noticing his stuff was missing.
He says his two snowmobiles, a custom trailer, and riding gear were gone.
“Probably about $15,000 to $20,000 worth of my own money,” said Ryan Chatterson.
He says the alleged theft was captured on a nearby surveillance camera, and he reported it all to police.
But Chatterson still wanted to take matters into his own hands, posting about the incident on social media. He says people from across Canada, the United States, and even as far as the Netherlands shared his post.
Chatterson says the trailer was last spotted at a No Frills in Mount Forest around 5 p.m. Monday night.
Provincial Police say they have seen several cases like Chatterson’s, where others are also taking to posting their alleged thefts on social media.
“We certainly see that it can make a difference in cases. Where we need to be careful is making sure that the authority and police jurisdictions know about the incident. Things like time discrepancies where things have been posted get reposted after the fact, where property has been returned to the owner, in which case it becomes futile to have that information being floated around the internet,” said OPP Const. Joshua Cunningham.
Police also say surveillance or doorbell camera video can be very useful in identifying suspects and solving crimes.
