Crime & Safety
Los Gatos Police Arrest Man on Suspicion of Stealing NASCAR Fire Suit
Campbell resident is accused of putting missing goods on sale on eBay.
—By Bay City News Service
A Campbell man has been arrested in the theft of a NASCAR fire suit that turned up missing from the owner's front porch in Los Gatos and was offered for sale on eBay, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police said today.
Fonzi Preader, 34, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property in connection with the robbery of the collectable NASCAR suit, valued at about $1,250, police said.
On Thursday afternoon, a Los Gatos resident living in the 100 block of Loma Alta Avenue told police that he had been expecting UPS to deliver the fire suit to his home that morning.
UPS informed him that the service had left a package with the item on his porch earlier that day, police said.
The victim then went online, found out the NASCAR fire suit was being offered for sale on eBay and informed police, police said.
Officers used law enforcement databases to learn that the seller was living on Abbott Avenue in Campbell, police said.
On Saturday night, officers went to the residence and met Preader with his 35-year-old live-in girlfriend.
After an investigation and interviewing witnesses, officers determined that the suspect stole the fire suit and then used his girlfriend's seller ID on eBay to put it up for sale.
Police said they recovered the fire suit at Preader's home and returned it to the victim.
Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police are still investigating other items that may have been offered for sale by the same eBay user ID.
Anyone with information related to the theft is urged to notify the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police's Detective Bureau at 408-827-3209.
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