Man reunited with stolen 85-inch TV after good Samaritan finds it north of Santa Rosa

Good Samaritans and a chance Facebook encounter this week helped reunite a man with his stolen big-screen TV days after it went missing.

The 85-inch Sony TV, which its owner purchased at a Sonoma County Costco, was stolen from the bed of his truck while he quickly stopped into a grocery store on his way home, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office reported Saturday.

A good Samaritan last weekend found the TV, which was still in its box, in Larkfield, north of Santa Rosa, and turned it into the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies then took to social media to find the TV’s owner after other searches failed.

“We’re sure someone is missing something very important in preparation for Super Bowl Sunday,” a post Wednesday on the Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page read.

No information was provided about how the TV was found, and the department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

A Costco employee, who saw the Facebook post and remembered a customer calling the store about a stolen TV, provided deputies with details of the purchase confirming the TV belonged to the man, who the department identified as Chuck.

Chuck picked up the TV from the Sheriff’s Office on Thursday and said “he is grateful to the person who found the TV and turned it in,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.