SCHERTZ, Texas – Within hours of KSAT airing a story about the theft of a travel trailer belonging to newly retired U.S. Army Maj. David Johnson, Schertz police said they were notified that the Comal County Sheriff’s Office had discovered Johnson’s trailer in the community of Garden Ridge.
“They could have saw the news and saw that we were looking for it,” said Detective Haskell Ivey, with the Seguin Police Department. “They got scared and decided to dump it. It’s definitely a possibility.”
Now, Ivey has another travel trailer theft that he’s investigating from the same Lockaway Storage facility in Schertz.
The trailer belonging to Joseph Rushlow was stolen about the same time last month, Ivey said. The detective wouldn’t confirm whether passcodes belonging to someone else were used to gain access in both incidents.
Rushlow said his trailer was left on someone’s property and that person called Cibolo police about a suspicious vehicle.
“It was stashed up under some trees, and it was wedged in there pretty good,” Rushlow said. “The towing company almost didn’t get it out of there.”
When the RV was towed, he said, it was badly damaged and stripped of anything valuable inside.
“They took everything, even the toilet paper,” he said.
When Johnson saw his travel trailer Thursday for the first time since it was stolen, he said it also was trashed.
“It was disgusting, to say the least," he said.
Schertz police detectives and an evidence technician went over Johnson’s trailer, gathering evidence and fingerprints. They also had him point out which items were his.
He said the thieves left behind bedding, tools and other items that were clearly not his.
Now that the trailers have been recovered, both victims said they are hoping arrests will soon follow.