PHOENIX (CBS5) -
This is a tale of two cities. Joseph Ortiz said his car was stolen from the parking lot of Bailey's Pub near 35th Avenue and Union Hills Drive in Phoenix. People in a Gilbert neighborhood found it.
"Whoever stole the vehicle, I saw they're professionals, and the reason I say that is because the license plate had been replaced, it wasn't my license plate," Ortiz said.
But Ortiz said those pros left behind some obvious clues.
"Believe it or not, there was a Mapquest map in the front seat on the floor to an address that was around the corner from where the car was abandoned," he said.
Ortiz said there was also a receipt for a local fast food joint, complete with a time stamp and credit card information.
"My cell phone that was also recovered with the vehicle showed that it had received some phone calls from numbers that I didn't recognize. All that information was given to the police," he added.
Ortiz said he figured solving this crime was a no-brainer, but he said both departments immediately started passing the buck.
"To the point where I got the runaround so much I just kind of gave up and, short of investigating everything myself, I just kind of said, 'Well, I've got my car back so I guess that's a good thing,'" Ortiz said.
"You know, it would be nice to put somebody like that behind bars so they're not stealing and affecting other people's property," he added.
CBS 5 News reached out to both the Gilbert and Phoenix police departments to find out why this car theft wasn't investigated.
Gilbert police said that since the vehicle was stolen in Phoenix, it's that department's job to investigate.
Phoenix told CBS 5 News they never even assigned a detective to the case and that they didn't have any suspect information to follow up.
Copyright 2012 CBS 5 (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
