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$800 Tool Box Taken During Eastlake Home Remodel, Caught on Camera

The area is used to this, a worker said, citing neighbors having their online orders go missing from their doorsteps

Security cameras caught a man taking a tool box from an Eastlake home while owners and contractors were remodeling the kitchen just feet away.

Alfredo Medina was working on the remodel when the tool box, said to be worth $600 to $800, was taken.

“I was really, really sad and mad at the same time,” Medina told NBC 7. “I was trying to keep calm, because, you know, you can’t give a bad expression with the clients, the owners of the house, at the place that you’re working on.”

The homeowners had security cameras installed, so Medina and the others checked the footage.

Medina said the man who took the tool box was first seen walking by the house and later drove by in a truck to take it.

He said the suspect “looks Hispanic.”

“What makes me more sad is that it’s a Hispanic, you know? And all these things that is happening now, and, you know, it’s a really bad image for us,” Medina said.

The tool box was full of small but valuable tools, the worker said, including grinders, a Skil saw, batteries, and more.

When asked why the tools were lying outside, Medina said, “Any job, you have to leave your tools outside, if you’re working with big machinery.”

His truck was full of trash and other items for the remodel, so the tools wouldn’t have been kept in there at that time, Medina said.

Medina spoke with the homeowner who said this “isn’t the first time.” Neighbors were said to be complaining of similar things happening.

“Losing mail or, you know, big boxes of whatever they order online,” Medina told NBC 7.

To finish the kitchen remodel, Medina is borrowing tools from his friends.

“This makes it more bad to us because it’s the tools that we use for, you know, for work to get our own money and support our families,” said Medina.

The Eastlake residents called the police after the tool box went missing.

Medina had a few words to say to the suspect. “He needs to get a real job, not stealing from other people. Hopefully, he learns his lesson if he gets caught.”

The nearly thousand-dollar tool box was gone in under a minute, Medina noted.

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