Victim finds own stolen truck, NOPD missed a few things

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George Peake's week ended on a sour note. As the contractor walked out of his house on Thursday evening, someone else was speeding off in his truck.

“I chased it down the street about two blocks while calling 911 waiting for the police to pick up,” said Peake.

He says he lost track of the car, and after several hours was finally able to file a report with NOPD – in which he told police he thinks he might have dropped his keys near the vehicle the day before.

Just over 24 hours later, while Peake was out running errands, he happened to run across his truck at a gas station on the corner of St. Claude and Franklin Avenue. He says that's when things got even more interesting.

“They speed away. We follow it, and they ditch the truck around the corner,” said Peake. “I get in the car and drive it back to my house to call the police.”

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Peake says police came out for a second time to get information from him, and officers with the crime lab spent an hour combing through the trucks for prints. He says he thought that was the end to this ordeal. Then Saturday morning came, and Peake was cleaning out his car to prep it for a detailed wash.

“I thought there was a tape measure right here in the backseat pocket. I reached down to grab it, pulled it out, realized it was a gun and sat it down on the floor,” said Peake.

Peake says he also found a marijuana joint on the floorboard near the door.

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Peake contacted WDSU late Monday evening to say the truck thieves returned. He said just before 9 p.m., he heard the truck’s engine start. He says he got outside just in time to see someone plowing through his back gate and taking off down the road in the truck. At last check, Peake was waiting on NOPD to get to his residence.

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