Cops say a thief almost ruined a family's vacation...but their camera, which was on a timer, snapped a photo of the man going through a bag that held their property. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
It started out as a fun vacation. New Jersey family man John Myers, who loves taking pictures, gathered his wife and kids to take photos outside the capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. To take a family portrait of his wife Katherine, himself, and their kids, Charlie and Matilda, he set the camera's timer.
But moments after he took that picture, panic set in. A duffle bag filled with the family's belongings, including $1,000 cash, the car keys, and a brand new iPad, was missing.
"I was completely freaking out, I just thought, 'Ugh this stinks, this is the worst thing ever,' " says John's wife Katherine.
Then John had an idea. He looked through the set of photos he had just taken. Sure enough, there in the background of the family portrait was a guy bending over their bag, stealing their stuff!
John says, "I was shocked and surprised...that I only took one picture and it was on a ten-second delay – it was pretty amazing that he just happened to be in the frame, two seconds earlier or later he would have been out of the frame."
They showed the picture to a police officer.
"He looked at [the photo] and he said, 'Oh that man is wearing brown dress shoes with a black shirt and denim shorts, who does that? Of course we can find this guy!' " Katherine tells INSIDE EDITION.
Authorities put out a bulletin and within minutes an officer spotted the alleged bad guy, 59-year-old Glen Lambright, still carrying John's missing bag.
"We got everything back!" says Katherine.
For Katherine, her husband's non-stop picture-taking is not so annoying anymore.
"I'm glad he does it, and in this case I'm extra glad he did it, because that really would have ruined our trip," she says.
Lambright was sentenced to five days in jail.
