James Woloschuk wasn’t scheduled to work that night.
But after a truck crashed and knocked out power in downtown Campbell River on April 8, Woloschuk dropped everything to come into work at Thrifty Foods to get the shelves stocked, a job delayed by the power outage.
While working that late shift on April 8, somtime between 9:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., someone stole his green 2000 Honda Civic 2 coupe, a car he searched long and hard for and spent thousands restoring.
RELATED: Campbell River grocery worker’s car stolen while he works
On Sunday, Woloschuk watched as his pride and joy was dragged out of the bushes at Nunns Creek, along the ground without any wheels.
“I’m so disappointed,” Woloschuk said. “I’ve put so many hours and so much work into that car that I can’t get back.”
Woloschuk doesn’t have receipts for a lot of the work he put into the car plus he incurred the added costs of going to the Lower Mainland to get parts from auto wreckers. He doesn’t anticipate ICBC will compensate him for anywhere near the amount of money he put into the 20-year-old car.
“I’ve been building that car for a year now,” Woloschuk said.
He had just put $3,000 worth of work into the car before the theft but the “sad part” Woloschuk said, is that the only thing the thieves took was the set of rims. Woloschuk had just put a lot of work into the motor, installed aftermarket control arms and exhaust, a brand-new clutch, brand-new spark plugs, leads, “just everything.”
“All they took off it were the rims. They destroyed the car for the rims,” he said.
He figures the thieves didn’t have the equipment to remove anything else of value from the car. They were just looking for and were equipped to steal the rims.
“I don’t think they had the means of taking a strut out of a car,” Woloschuk said.
Woloschuk figures the thieves stole the car that night, drove it down a walking trail at Nunns Creek Park and left it there. They returned the next day and removed the wheels and carried them out un-noticed by continuing down the trail and exiting the wooded area from another, less conspicuous trail on the other side.
“I’m just devastated because I actually watched the tow truck dragging it out. It’s my baby. I put so much hard work into that car.”
Woloschuk said his employer, Thrifty Foods, has been great to him while he has dealt with the theft and trying to get an interim vehicle.
Part of the heartbreak of the situation is that Woloschuk moved to Campbell River from the Lower Mainland a year-and-a-half ago so he could spend less time commuting and more time with his family.
“We decided to come here and just get away from it all,” he said. “And we love it here. Campbell River is awesome. This is kind of like the one bad thing that has happened. Everything has been an awesome-plus about being here. The people here are really friendly.
“But after this I’m just kind of like aaaaahhh! I’ll get over it, right, I’m just really upset right now. Tough pill to swallow.”
Woloschuk said he believes in karma and likes to think he is a good person so he doesn’t feel he deserves this. Now he has to start from scratch and build another car like the one he’s lost.
@AlstrT
editor@campbellrivermirror.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
