Trooper Stops Truck, Finds Own Camper

A California Highway Patrol officer whose camper had been stolen from the back of his pickup truck rediscovered it--rolling down the Hollywood Freeway in Universal City on the back of another man’s truck.

Officer Ben Moya sighted the pickup truck and his camper in the northbound lanes of the freeway near Barham Boulevard about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, said CHP spokesman Dave Grajeda.

After pulling the truck over, Moya inspected the blue camper shell more closely. “He just happened to have a key to the camper, and it fit perfectly,” Grajeda said.

Moya called Los Angeles police, and the driver of the truck, Ramon Huiza, 20, was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property. He was later released on $5,000 bail.

Moya did not make the arrest himself because CHP officers customarily do not make arrests for non-vehicle violations if local officers can do so, a Los Angeles police spokesman said.

Huiza told authorities that he bought the camper from someone else, Grajeda said, “but we don’t know if that’s true.”

Grajeda said Moya’s pickup truck was stolen in July. He said police “found the truck, but the tires and camper shell were gone.”

Grajeda laughed when he considered the odds of Moya recovering his stolen property: “Can you imagine the expression on the guy’s face when the officer told him it was his camper?”