Mike Langan and his family are brand new residents to the Pahrump Valley.
It would be safe to say that the Southern California family’s first few days in town did not start well as some of their belongings were stolen right from their front porch.
Among them, $3,000 worth of tools, as Langan was formerly an ironworker.
He said the incident occurred in broad daylight as he was moving pieces of furniture inside the home.
Some of the furniture was purchased at the Methodist Church on Highway 372 and Pahrump Valley Boulevard.
“I unloaded the truck and put the items outside the front door,” he said. “Then I started moving some of the stuff inside. I was inside for only 10 minutes.”
After assembling some of his furniture inside their new home, Langan said he stepped outside for a cigarette.
“That’s when my wife asked me how I got everything inside the house so fast,” he said. “I asked her what she was talking about, and that’s when we realized that some dressers and about $3,000 worth of my tools were missing from the front yard. I was just inside moving boxes around in the bedroom, set up the night stands and checked on the kids. I didn’t see anything nor did I hear anything at all.”
Langan’s wife, Jade, said whoever removed their property from the front yard left a length of galvanized steel behind.
She also remained hopeful the Nye County Sheriff’s Office can locate the culprits.
“We are just going to pick up and start all over,” she said. “That’s all we can do. I made a post on Facebook letting people know that it was taken out of our yard. Hopefully, someone saw something. The dresser was very large and it was solid oak. It would have taken at least three strong people to get it onto their truck.”
With such an unfortunate occurrence during the family’s first few days in town, Langan said the incident did not necessarily change his opinion of the community he moved to with his family.
He also clung to the hopes that the incident may have been a misunderstanding.
“To be honest, we’re from Menifee, California, and I’m kind of used to this stuff but I really didn’t think it would happen out here, especially so soon,” he said. “I’m honestly hoping that maybe they thought the stuff was just abandoned and they could pick it up and take it. Hopefully, they will hear about this and return the items, hopefully.”
Additionally, Langan said the sheriff’s office is checking with area pawn shops to determine whether the apparent thieves will eventually pawn the items.
He also noted a secondary use for the piece of steel that was left behind.
“I’m not sure if I can use it to somehow identify them, but I would like to use it to beat them over the head with it if they stole our stuff.”
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com