Citizens use social media to fight crime in Pueblo

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported a nearly 30 percent increase in car thefts over the last year in Colorado.

But people in Pueblo saw a 41 percent jump.

Now citizens are using social media to help fight back, and they’re having success.

“It was just utter disbelief, I’ve never had any kind of trouble or anything like this happen before,” Erica Knight said.

Knight recalls waking up to find the car she calls “Sarah” stolen. Since Saturday, August 13, Erica has been scouring the streets of Pueblo looking for her car.
Thursday morning, she had a tip from the Facebook page, “Pueblo Stolen Item Identification and Return,” that it was seen off of Highway 50.

“Then all of the sudden this car just comes up from behind and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s my car!’,” Knight said.

Knight lost sight of the car as a man drove it away. She quickly posted the sighting back to Facebook.

“I signed on and all the sudden I see somebody saying, ‘I was chasing this guy in my car, and he had stolen my car,” Georgi Lipich said.

Lipich moderates the Facebook group, and says several people jumped on to help find the car.

“So they’re chatting back and forth and talking about the car and where this all went down and somebody said, ‘Is this the car?’,” Lipich said.

The Facebook user was able to watch the car for some time, but had to leave.

After a few clicks on his computer, Josh Robison decided to get in his car to help out. He didn’t want Erica’s car to get away on his watch.

“I watched the vehicle until the owner showed up and as soon as they verified that it was their vehicle, I pulled up behind it so nobody could take off with the vehicle,” Robison said.

The group placed calls into the police department dispatch.

“We were probably 26th or 27th in line,” Robison said.

Robison was able to watch for suspects until police arrived. Police didn’t make any arrests, but they were able to sweep the car for fingerprints.

While “Sarah” has some new problems, including a missing radio, rims and body damage (among other things), Knight is just thankful she still has her car.

“I am beyond grateful that complete strangers came together and helped me get my car back,” Knight said.

For Lipich and Robison, they’re happy to have helped and to have done it safely.

“I think that’s what it’s going to take, for all of us to work together,” Lipich said.

“We all know that the officers are shorthanded right now, so us as a community, we need to stick together and take care of some of this stuff on our own,” Robison said.

The Pueblo Police Department gave a shout-out to the group on their Facebook page, and thanked them for their help. Police say they are still looking for the suspects.