Photo courtesy of Long Beach Police Department. 

Long Beach police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a large amount of mostly gardening and plumbing equipment, among other items stolen throughout Long Beach and neighboring cities over the past year, authorities said.

Officers came across the stockpile on February 3 when a witness alerted police of the theft of a leaf blower from a gardener’s vehicle on the 3500 block of Pine Avenue in Long Beach’s Los Cerritos neighborhood.

With the suspect vehicle’s license plate number reported by the witness, police located the car at the registered owner’s residence, according to the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD).

Police arrested 19-year-old Long Beach resident Agustin Garfias Jr. that same day and booked him at the Long Beach Jail for receiving known stolen property and petty theft. He was released that night after posting $1,000 bail.

Officers were able to recover the victim’s leaf blower and find other property they believed to be stolen.

Detectives then executed a search warrant at the residence and recovered a large number of items believed to be loss from thefts reported during the year, according to officers.

“To date, several victims have been identified based on the recovered items, however, the lawful owners of many more items have not yet been identified,” officials stated.

The recovery of the stolen property—consisting of gardening and plumbing equipment, construction tools and high-end bicycles—was the culmination of a detailed citywide investigation spanning several months, according to officials.

“Many of these items are believed to have been stolen from work trucks or in conjunction with the theft of the actual work truck,” authorities stated.

Detectives continue to look for the owners of the recovered items. To receive the items proof of legal ownership will need to be substantiated.

If you have been the victim of a burglary or theft of items similar to the ones described above, you are urged to call the Burglary Detectives Tomb Neal or Daniel Molinar at 562.570.7351.