Reddit hunts down streamer’s stolen ‘dream automobile’, finds confused man who calls for $10,000 earlier than fleeing to therapeutic massage parlour

Two days in the past, tragedy struck.  In a video posted to YouTube (opens in new tab), former most-subbed Twitch streamer of all time Ludwig Ahgren introduced that his “prize possession”—an imported 1997 Subaru Sambar microvan—had been stolen. It had been taken from exterior the warehouse the place Ahgren movies his podcast—The Yard—throughout LA’s current rainstorms (opens in new tab). The unhealthy climate had knocked out the positioning’s energy, that means individuals leaving had been compelled to go away the electrical gate extensive open and the Sambar ripe for the taking.

As reported by Kotaku (opens in new tab), it did not take the web lengthy to trace the van down. Barely a day after Ahgren posted his video, a Reddit person named iwantaguineapig (opens in new tab) posted a video of the Sambar—parked in such a means that its licence plate was unreadable—within the LA neighbourhood of Sylmar. 

After slightly little bit of a runaround (the van had vanished the primary time Ahgren, who’s at present in Texas, may get somebody to Sylmar to scope out the scene), Ahgren’s assistant Nick Yingling and collaborator Anthony Bruno tracked down the van in the identical spot that night. Unable to get the cops to return and assist, they determined to simply use their very own van key and take it again themselves. There was only one downside: Somebody was in it.

As you’ll be able to see within the video above, Yingling solely seen the motive force’s shadow—emitting a breathless “There’s-someone-in-the-car!”—on the exact second they opened the door, prompting the pair to beat toes away from the van in worry of a confrontation neither of them have been ready for. However as an alternative of a hardened prison, they discovered a barely perplexed man.

Realising they’d not disturbed the Al Capone of Japanese microvan theft, Yingling and Bruno started negotiating. “Hey bro, we have gotta take it again,” mentioned one of many pair, to which the determine within the van responded “Take what again?” The video posted to Twitter cuts off shortly thereafter, however we all know what occurred because of an replace video posted by Ahgren (opens in new tab) yesterday.

In keeping with Ahgren, the determine sitting within the Sambar informed Yingling and Bruno that he was not the one chargeable for stealing it. As an alternative, he mentioned it had been given to him in lieu of money by an affiliate who owed him cash. Then, in a transfer that is truthfully type of admirable for its brazenness, he mentioned he’d return the automobile if the pair—who had their very own working key and to whom the van clearly belonged—gave him $10,000, virtually double the $5,500 Ahgren initially paid for it (minus import charges).

When Yingling determined that calling the cops once more could be a greater choice, the man within the van slammed the door shut and took off within the van. However relatively than promote or stash his sizzling property, he drove it to a therapeutic massage parlour, the place it was noticed by one other Reddit person named suufferPNG (opens in new tab) the subsequent day. This time, the cops did present up, prompting the van’s driver—who was within the technique of loading the van as much as go away—to flee on foot. Yingling was there shortly after, the truck was recovered, and all was nicely a mere two days after Ahgren’s unique video asserting the theft was posted.

There’s most likely an ethical right here, however I will be damned if I can inform you what it’s. Typically the collective energy of the web can obtain constructive ends? That one sounds slightly dicey. How about: Do not steal extremely recognisable autos from celebrities with tens of millions of followers, after which tremendous do not simply drive them to a public parking zone exterior a therapeutic massage parlour in broad daylight after being confronted about it? That is a lesson we are able to all study from.