SEATTLE — Tony began flying drones years ago. Mostly it was to get beautiful landscape shots, but today he's using it in a different way.
For the last few weeks, he has flown out to a Seattle homeless encampment south of the First Avenue Bridge.
"The scale of that encampment blew me away and I saw this graveyard of cars," said Tony.
He identifies cars that could be stolen and posts them on the Facebook group "Pacific Northwest Stolen Cars." He has reunited some of the cars found on the lot with their owners.
"I thought I'd put two and two together and just flew over, took some closer pictures of the cars that are there and see if any of them were stolen. And sure enough, so far, two of them had been."
Rachel and her boyfriend woke up at midnight on May 6 to the sound of their 1996 Honda being stolen. They reported the theft minutes after seeing the car drive off.
One week later, Rachel saw Tony's photos.
"Seeing the photos, we were in shock. We knew it was there but we couldn't see in, it's not a safe space to be."
She called police and said they went to recover it, but it was too late, it wouldn't start and was not drivable.
According to data from the Seattle Police Department, there's been 2,075 motor vehicle thefts this year.
"It's frustrating, you know? There's no justice for people," said Rachel.
Reuniting people with their stolen property, Tony said it's the goal of community groups like the stolen cars Facebook page.
"I think it's doing more than the police are, unfortunately. So, yeah, I think it's a big help."