On November 5, Tournament Bass Angler Shawn O’Connell stayed at the Comfort Inn off of I-40 as he was traveling home from a fishing tournament and woke up to find his truck and boat stolen.

“We got up in the morning and went outside and the truck and boat were gone,” said O’Connell. “I didn’t figure I’d see any of that again. I think it was by 8:00 that night they had recovered the truck and boat.”

O’Connell’s 2019 Ford F350 pickup and 2018 Triton boat were missing from the hotel, along with other property, which was valued around $300,000.

O’Connell said, “There is a little bit of damage to the truck and then the boat trailer is damaged. The boat itself appears to be fine. You know, they probably haven’t towed a boat a lot and looks like they took a corner a little tight and they crunched up the wheels. It made me feel pretty good how hard the Panhandle Auto Burglary and Theft Unit worked on it.”

Around 3:00 p.m. that day, officers were dispatched to Westgate Mall where Jamie Luna was in custody for shoplifting.

According to police, Luna had property of O’Connell’s on her, as well as the key to O’Connell’s truck, which fell out of her pocket as police helped her out of their patrol car.

 

If she had the key, makes you wonder how she got it. Date night gone wrong!!!??

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

A quick google search shows that Jamie Luna has a hell of a wrap sheet.

https://arrestfacts.com/Jamie-Luna-0R0k31

 

Stealing one of those rigs is like stealing a famous painting...where do you think you could hide it??? They are covered in sponsor logos as well as having custom paint on the truck/trailer/boat. They aren't very subtle. It would be like driving around in a stolen billboard inviting the police to investigate! Would make more sense if the thief was planning to strip the electronics out of the boat. We were camped next to a couple pro bass tournament guys in Missouri past spring....impressive rigs.

 

Thats why i try not to leave my keys inside the truck. does insurance still cover damage/theft when they find out the keys were in the vehicle?

 

My insurance company specifically asked if the keys were left in my jeep when it got stolen a few years back...those geniuses also asked if my doors were locked on a convertible rag top...really?

 

Explaining to a significant other how the keys got into the pockets of that fine young lady may be one heck of a fishing story.

 

of course he’s lucky. He gets to fish for a living.

 

Sounds like Ole Shawn did some "extra" fishing after the tournament and instead of throwing his catch back, he admired it for awhile and fell asleep.

If he`s married and if he told his wife, I`d like to hear him explain to his wife how this woman/fish got his keys.

 

True, but sometimes when you fish in the wrong place, you might catch crabs.