WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Police Reunite Stolen Valuables with Rightful Owners

Police Reunite Stolen Valuables with Rightful Owners

A local family and several business owners got a call they never expected. Savannah-Chatham police recovered thousands of dollars worth of items recently stolen from them.

Police arrested Ronnie Lee and Craig Jackson yesterday afternoon after officers pulled them over for speeding. Police say Jackson had an outstanding warrant for aggravated assault and Lee had a suspended license. Police say they also discovered several stolen cameras in the back seat. But that's not all. That traffic stop led police to a much bigger cache of stolen goods.

This afternoon, detectives reunited more than $20,000 worth of stolen items with their rightful owners.

Deeanna Koritko and her husband Stephen, an Army helicopter pilot, couldn't wait to see what police had recovered. The biggest thing was a plastic container filled with Stephen Koritko's military papers and a Bible he took with him to Iraq.

The couple fought back tears as they looked through the stuff. Police also found their grill.

"My husband recognized the grill my daughter won him while he was in Iraq for Father's Day," Deeanna Koritko said.

The Koritkos just moved to Savannah from Alaska this summer when someone stole their moving trailer from their hotel along I-95 and Highway 204. "There's a lot more stuff," Deeanna said.

Stuff they hope suspect Ronnie Lee will someday help them find. "I hope he'll find some way in his heart to let us know where he did put some of the stuff," she said. "There's family pictures, another Bible, my grandmother's Bible I was hoping to find."

Police also recovered music equipment stolen from Rody's Music, tools taken from a construction site, and cameras stolen earlier this week from World Wide Camera. No one expected to see any of this stuff again.

"It's looking for a needle in a haystack," said World Wide Camera owner Tom Coffer.

Detectives say these items they recovered may be just the tip of the iceberg. They say these two men are linked to burglaries from Savannah to Statesboro. They hope to reunite more people with their precious belongings.

"They did a good job, following their instincts tracking this stuff down," said Stephen Koritko. "We really appreciate it."

Ronnie Lee and Craig Jackson will be in court and arraigned on the traffic and burglary charges Friday morning.

Police say they found most of the stolen items inside Lee's home. Police are still gathering information on these two, which they say could lead to more stolen goods and more charges.

Reported by Michelle Paynter, mpaynter@wtoc.com