Fed-up tradie hunts down his own stolen gear after losing $10k in tools
More than $10K worth of tools gone. Just like that. He called the cops… got told to wait. But this tradie was not about to sit around doing nothing. He used his AirPods to track the thieves himself, and ended up finding exactly where his gear was.
Had over $10K in tools stolen… and had to track them down himself. Image: Daily Mail
Blake Mendola, an 18 year old carpentry apprentice in Melbourne, already knows what it feels like to have his ute cleaned out. Months earlier, he lost over $10,000 worth of tools he had paid for himself. Never got them back.
Then it happened again.
Second time around, the thieves even dumped some tools out the front of his house and took what they actually wanted. His footy bag… and his AirPods.
That is when it clicked. If they took the AirPods, he could track them.
Blake opened Find My on his iPhone. And there it was. The AirPods were still pinging nearby. Exact location.
He called police, told them straight up where his stuff was. Got told to wait.
He waited… nothing moved. So he went to check the location himself.
“Had the location. Had the proof… still told to wait.”
He tracked it down. But still had to wait
Blake tracked the house down and parked up, watching the place for days waiting for police to show. They never did.
Meanwhile, the frustration kept building. Not just because of the stolen gear, but because he had already done the hard part. He had the location. The exact spot. And still nothing moved.
When waiting is not really an option
The case is still under investigation. But the image is already there.
A tradie sitting outside a house, tracking his own stolen tools, waiting for someone else to step in and do what he already knows needs doing.
And that is why this one hits. Because when your tools get taken, it is not just money. It is your job. Waiting just feels like nothing is happening.
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More than $10K worth of tools gone. Just like that. He called the cops… got told to wait. But this tradie was not about to sit around doing nothing. He used his AirPods to track the thieves himself, and ended up finding exactly where his gear was.