Why a Texas man says the Lemhi sheriff deserves a ‘huge hug’
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — A series of unusual events has a Texas man praising the sheriff of Lemhi County after a trip to Hawaii.
Alan Garcia of Fort Worth and his wife, Meredith, spent the first week of January in Maui. After a day of exploring the island, they returned to their hotel room, and Alan realized his $500 GoPro camera was missing.
Alan says he tore his hotel room apart and returned to the beach where they had just been but no luck. The camera was gone.
“I went back to the hotel deflated,” Garcia writes in a message to EastIdahoNews.com. “I posted on the Maui page of Reddit … and a couple of Maui-specific Facebook (pages) and Craigslist too.”
Days went by, and Garcia heard nothing.
“We left Maui, and I resigned myself to the fact that the pictures were gone forever,” Garcia says. “We ended up thinking that (somebody) had tossed the card and sold the camera.”
Fast forward to this week.
Garcia got a Facebook notification from a man he’s never met: Lynn Bowerman – who happens to be the sheriff of Lemhi County.
“HE HAD MY CAMERA! He had Googled my loss and found the posts,” Garcia wrote.
Bowerman tells EastIdahoNews.com he and his wife were walking along the beach in Maui when they spotted the GoPro.
“I took it back to our room, popped the memory card in the computer and saw hundreds of photos,” Bowerman says. “I suddenly knew who owned the camera, but I didn’t know who he was.”
Bowerman says he Googled “lost GoPro Hero camera at Maui” and Garcia’s name instantly popped up.
“By golly, I couldn’t believe it. His Facebook page was right here and the photos on the camera were definitely the same guy in his Facebook pictures,” Bowerman says.
Bowerman told Garcia he’d mail back the camera. Garcia insisted he only send back the memory card and told Bowerman to keep the camera as a token of thanks.
Bowerman refused and sent the camera back – even refusing reimbursement for shipping fees.
“My camera, tripod and memory card arrived this week,” Garcia says. “I’m over the moon. Sometime I’m going to find a way to repay Lynn, I promise. When you see him, give him a huge, Texas-sized hug and pat on the back from me.”
Bowerman says he wasn’t doing anything special and he’s happy he could help Garcia get his valuable vacation memories back.
“I’d be bummed if it was my camera and I lost it,” Bowerman says. “I wasn’t doing anything special. I was just doing the right thing.”