One victim’s delight at being reunited with his stolen recreational vehicle turned to shock when cops hauled the thief out of the local jail to show them how to turn it on.
Olive Teague, 26, was devastated when her 1996 Ford F350 RV was stolen from a Seattle street in December, along with all the equipment for the mermaid school she runs.
Nearly four months later, she was invited to pick it up at the Aberdeen Police Department after officers arrested the man they suspected of stealing it.
But with the ignition long since switched off, officers had to resort to deeply unofficial expertise to return the battered vehicle to the road, returning with the tattooed suspect in an orange jumpsuit.
“I have to tell you, my coping skills at the time were not up to par to deal with THAT situation,” Olive said.
Almost four months later, police recovered it in Aberdeen and Olive filmed it from behind as cops recruited the suspected thief to help restart the engine.
Olive Teague, 26, had invested her life savings in the 1996 Ford RV, which also served as her home when it was stolen after just two weeks on a Seattle street.
Drugs, weapons, stolen jewelry, bicycle parts, hunting weapons and even a raccoon trap were recovered from the severely damaged vehicle after the squatters spent the winter inside.
Olive had invested her life savings in the RV, which also served as her home and storage for the costumes and freediving equipment for her business, The Seattle Mermaid School.
She had only had the vehicle for two weeks before it was towed away on December 19, and her friends started a GoFundMe appeal to help her.
Three months later, he arrived in Aberdeen with a friend and discovered that squatters had lived there during the winter, traveling more than 1,300 miles and causing extensive damage.
But a routine recovery attracted more than 12 million views on TikTok after Olive pulled out her phone to record her unusual spin.
As she inspected the debris in the back of the vehicle, her friend and a police officer struggled with the ignition in an attempt to start the engine.
“Finally, I heard the officer say, ‘You know what? “I don’t want us to do any more damage to the ignition by playing with it,” she updated his followers on his appeal page.
“I know a guy at the station who definitely knows how to do this.” And so he left.
‘I didn’t think about any of this during my deep clean of the bedroom section. You’re going to get another officer… right?
“That’s what I assumed until I turned around and found not another cop showing my friend how to jump the ignition, but the real man who stole my vehicle.”
Olive invested her life savings into the mobile home, which also served as a home and storage for her business.
They took Olive’s RV with all her equipment for the mermaid school she runs.
“The responding officer went to the county jail and caught the literal man they had booked for selling my vehicle and took him on a little field trip to teach us how to start my RV.”
The TikTok shows the alleged criminal patiently teaching his friend how to make the engine come to life, while sneaking the occasional glance at Olive filming from behind.
Job done, the suspect was returned to jail and Olive was able to begin returning the RV to livability.
“During the cleanup process we discovered drugs, weapons, stolen jewelry, bicycle parts, hunting weapons, a raccoon trap and many more unmentionable items,” he wrote.
‘There is fire damage inside the mobile home. The walls, my new mattress and the carpets have deep burn marks. About an hour and a half into the cleaning project, I found a whole cat.
‘I’m on day 6 of wet vacuuming my carpets and the water still comes out black, but the smell is going down and my carpets are blue again.
‘I have a lot of manual work ahead of me to continue to claim my space, but that’s where I’ve been for the last week.
‘And I can’t tell you how much calmer my heart feels compared to when my RV left. I would rather have my vehicle, cursed or not.
Commenters on TikTok praised the resourceful cops and were impressed with the suspect’s detailed walkthrough.
“He probably thought it was great to be helpful and share some specific knowledge,” one wrote.
“The fact that they both looked at each other and smiled when it came on,” another added.
During the cleanup process, Olive discovered drugs, weapons, stolen jewelry, bicycle parts, hunting weapons, and a cat.
Olive described the experience as “surreal, to say the least.”
“There was a potentially dangerous accused criminal waving a screwdriver inches from my friend’s face,” he wrote.
‘And he was a great support in the teaching process?
‘The only thing I could think of to do at the time was film it for prosperity. And, you know, in case we needed proof.
