Garage sale with 20 VCRs and DVD players brings police raid

The Associated Press

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Then there were the neighborhood signs saying the sale would be going on "all week" and a notice inside the house advising potential customers, "If an item cannot be found, it will be arriving soon."

The sale was shut down Wednesday with a raid in which Leonard Ole Nesseth, 54, was arrested and about $5,000 (US$4,000) in apparently stolen property was seized, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Jennifer Pound said.

"It wasn't your typical garage sale with lamps and $2 items," Pound said. "It was TV after TV and VCR after VCR. There was a pretty significant amount of equipment there."

She said police were alerted Saturday by a suspicious neighbor and decided on the raid after investigating for a few days.

Besides the VCRs and DVD players, police seized three laptops, five computer towers, stereos, bicycles, snowboards, jewelry and a telescope, a total of nearly 100 items.

Pound said investigators were trying to determine whether the garage sale was organized by one thief or by someone fencing stolen goods for others.

"This is a really bold way of going about selling property," she said. "It wasn't discreet by any means."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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