Imagine making a 23-hour, 1,500-mile drive to go elk hunting only to arrive at your destination, wake up the next morning and wander into the hotel parking lot to discover someone broke into your truck and stole all your gear. That’s exactly what happened to three men who made the trip from Pennsylvania to Casper, Wyoming.
“I woke up around six o’clock in the morning to go get these guys coffee. I was walking up to the truck and I saw a shoe laying there. ‘That looks a lot like my boot. I hope that’s not my boot,’” Daniel Toomey told the Oil City News. “I walked up and it was my boot. I looked inside and find that all of our equipment was gone. It was in the back. It was all locked up.”
Six-thousand dollars’ worth of their gear to be exact. The men filed a theft report but the Casper Police Department (CPD) did much more. It took immediate action.
“Criminals messing with hunting season? That’s where we draw the line,” was the post on the CPD Facebook page.
The call went out to all members of the department, many of them avid hunters. Three to four hours later, they gathered and provided their own hunting gear for the hunters to take with them.
“Words cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am,” Madison Toomey, wife of one of the hunters, posted on the Casper Police Department Facebook page. “This trip meant a lot to my husband and when he called to tell me what happened I was crushed. I knew how devastated he was. Thank you so much for all that you do.”
The CPD is also taking donations to help the threesome on their return trip home after the conclusion of their five-day hunt. If you would like to help, call 307-235-7598.
(Photo source: Casper Police Department)