Unanderra carpenter Blake Holmes was out of pocket more than $8000 after a thief broke into his ute in the early hours of Monday morning and stole his tools.
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He was one of several people, including his housemate, on his street to be hit.
It was a windy night so when Mr Holmes' partner woke up about 12.30am after she heard something outside but couldn't see anything, she didn't think too much of it.
But the next morning Mr Holmes and his housemate Mathew Gardiner knew that noise was them being robbed.
The locks on Mr Holmes' tool box had been broken off and bags of Makita battery tools were stolen from his ute that was parked in the driveway.
While Mr Gardiner's ute had a window smashed and about $2000 worth of nail guns taken.
"It hit us in the guts," Mr Holmes said.
"It has been a struggle to work since. It was a horrible experience because then I thought, 'what else has been taken from my house'.
"As a tradie, you get attached to your tools and they are hard to replace."
The pair reported the theft to police.
Mr Holmes is hoping his tools, which he has been holding off replacing, will be recovered by police after officers charged a man with being in possession of suspected stolen property.
In the early hours of Monday morning, a Unanderra resident, who lives on the same street as Mr Holmes, interrupted a man allegedly breaking into his ute and attempting to steal power tools.
The man left the scene in a waiting motor vehicle.
The victim followed the man for a short time and managed to provide police with a detailed description of the man and the registration plate of his vehicle.
On Thursday, police located the vehicle parked nearby the owner's residence.
Following further police investigation, a search warrant was executed on the alleged thief's Unanderra home.
During the search, police will allege they located numerous stolen power tools, a small cannabis plantation and a small amount of cannabis.
The 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with being in possession of suspected stolen property, cultivate prohibited plant and possess prohibited drug.
He was released on strict bail conditions and will appear at Port Kembla Local Court on October 7.
Police will allege the man stole Mr Holmes' and his housemates' tools.
Lake Illawarra Police crime prevention officer Sergeant Peter Northey said officers launched an investigation, which included late night surveillance, following a spike in thefts from tradies' utes.
Sgt Northey praised the actions of the man who gave officers a detailed description of the suspect which allowed them, along with their own investigative work, to arrest and charge the suspect.
"We are extremely grateful for the man's assistance," he said.
"Some of the best police work comes from the assistance of members of the community. This man did a great job.
"The biggest tool in a police investigation is information. Getting a witness account and detailed description helps us to successfully investigate a crime.
"The man's actions made our investigation much easier."
Officers hope to be able to hand back the equipment to tradies soon and Sgt Northey encouraged anyone who had tools stolen to get in contact with police.
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