Last Thursday, I returned to my car after a day of classes to see the contents of my glove compartment thrown throughout the passenger side of my car.

My car was burglarized.

I searched my car to see if anything was taken. My GPS was gone, and my brand new Bluetooth speaker, which was hidden in the back seat, was also taken.

I called Public Safety to file a report. An officer took some pictures, and told me that my car was out of range of the security camera (I won’t park in the commuter lot again.) We joked about the fact that I still used a GPS, and he essentially said that there was nothing they could do.

I called the Hamden Police Department, and an officer came who essentially did the same thing. He looked around, told me to lock my car next time and got back in the car to file a police report.

The officer pulled off to the side of the parking lot to avoid blocking traffic when he was using the computer.

I was sitting in my car waiting for the report when I had an epiphany. I remembered seeing an ad for LetGo, an app that allows people to sell things based on location so transactions are almost instantaneous. This would be the perfect instrument for someone to quickly turn over stolen goods.

I quickly downloaded the app and searched for “jbl speaker,” and MY SPEAKER immediately popped up.

“New in box bluetooth speaker by “JBL” 50.00$ or any reasonable offer brandnew its 100.00$”

I ran from my car to the officer in his vehicle. He was shocked. Rarely does anything arise from a car burglary.

“Send him a message. Tell him you want to buy it. 50 bucks…we’ll meet him at Krauszer’s at the bottom of Sherman,” he said.

The officer and I met in the Krauszer’s parking lot to wait for the alleged burglar, and he told me to go to back into the neighboring lot, so I had a full view of the scene. After a lengthy conversation back and forth through the app with the seller, he got confused and insisted that we talk on the phone. He sent me his cell phone number.

At this point, the officer called him, pretending to be interested in my speaker and clarifying our meetup point. I was told that a Nissan Xterra would arrive in approximately 7-10 minutes and that I should call the officer when it pulled in.

Five minutes into this waiting period, my heart was racing. I didn’t see the cop anywhere. I didn’t know if he left for something more serious because I was sure that a 20 year-old’s bluetooth speaker was not his highest priority. Regardless, the Xterra pulls in and I call the officer to tell him.

He doesn’t answer.

But he does come raining in from the church parking lot across the street with the sirens and lights blazing and corners this guy in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot. He grabbed my speaker and drove over the curb to return it to me in the adjacent parking lot.

Unfortunately, this guy actually purchased the speaker from the person who supposedly stole it from my car earlier in the day and was just trying to make a few bucks, so we did not catch the burglar.

However, I did get my speaker back. My GPS is still out there somewhere, but I got one hell of story. Also, I have a “fun fact” for life.