Woman uses texts to convince thief to return van

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INDEPENDENCE, Missouri — A Missouri woman's texts to an alleged thief resulted in the return of her van.

Megan Bratten said she was shopping at a Kmart store near U.S. Highway 24 and Missouri Highway 291 when her van was stolen, according to KCTV News. When Bratten walked out of the store, her van was gone. The single mother of five said the vehicle was her work van and she began to panic.

“I just got angry and then I remembered my phone was in there and I thought, ‘Let me text them a message,’ and I did,’ ” Bratten told KCTV News.

Bratten began texting the thief, explaining her situation and pleading to have her van returned. She said three hours went by without a response, but she continued texting to her phone. Bratten said she even told the thief the van leaked transmission fluid.

“And then he texted me back and gave me step-by-step directions where to find the van and I went there with my mom and my dog and the van was there,” she told KCTV News.

Bratten said she received another text from the thief that explained he was an unemployed father trying to get food for his kids. When she found the van, Bratten said there was an empty bottle of transmission fluid that the thief had used to fill it up, according to KCTV News.

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