Case Closed!

Today I received the most random phone call from my boss.

Boss: "Do you have a black jump drive with a purple ribbon?"

Me: "Uhh, yes. Why?" (as I wondered what my answer should be)

Boss: "Was your jump drive lost or stolen?"

Me: "Uhh, maybe. I haven't seen it for a while. Why?" (now wondering if I'm in trouble)

Boss: "Did your jump drive have confidential or employee information on it?"

Me: "Uhh, no I don't think so." (frantically wondering what was on my jump drive - pictures of Andi and I? Work files? I have no idea. Thanking the lucky stars at this point that I've never made a Paris Hilton sex tape)

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Turns out, my 4G jump drive had been recovered by the Columbia Heights Police Department as part of over 100 items stolen in car break-ins over the last few months.

Ringing any bells??? If you'll remember, my car was broken into in February! I told you about it here.

Apparently, the police officer looked at the documents on my jump drive and pieced together some of them belonging to someone within food service at the University of Minnesota. He contacted our University Client (! = whoa, awkward), who contacted my boss, who contacted me.

I called Columbia Heights Police Officer X who basically asked me to describe the items I'd lost the evening my car was broken into. From the items he recovered, I was able to identify the jump drive, my Oakley sunglasses (now sans lenses) and Oakley eyeglasses. I'm not exactly sure how the story pieces together but somehow Officer X has a guy in custody who's linked to a series of car break-ins. Officer X discovered a storage locker filled with the perp's stolen items. More of my items could be found in the storage locker - Officer X said he only grabbed what he thought he could link back to victims.

So, after a dozen phone calls to various precincts around the city, I was about to link my case/police report to the suspect. Not sure when I'll be able to recover my stuff (albeit a jump drive and sunglasses; of course the valuable stuff such as my camera, GPS and iPods are probably long gone). I have to say though, it feels good to know the case is closed. The person who broke into my car is in custody and will pay for what he's done. Yay for good ole' police work!