DUPONT -- A burglary in Luzerne County has left a mechanic without his tools. The tools were stolen from the man who owns Piazza Marine in Dupont.
Newswatch 16 spoke with John Piazza's children at their home in Duryea Tuesday and they said their dad has been collecting thousands of dollars' worth of tools for 30 years.
Piazza uses them for work and to fix up cars in his spare time and now he has to replace almost all of them.
Kyle Piazza keeps busy working on his dirt bike fixing it up for the summer.
But this tune-up is missing something: most of the tools. He says they were taken from his father's garage on Green Street in Duryea over the weekend.
"I was completely shocked. I couldn't believe someone would break into someone's garage like that. Especially like, it's only tools."
He says he came home around 2 a.m. Sunday to find a toolbox on the driveway. When he went to check inside the garage, he found the window had been taken out and his father's collection of tools missing.
Kyle's father owns Piazza Marine in Dupont and fixes up boats and cars on the side.
All of the drawers were cleared out, about $10,000 worth of tools were taken and some of them, they say, were irreplaceable.
"I think it's very unfortunate for my father, a man that collected this stuff for his whole life and it has to happen to him," said Danielle Piazza.
She says some of the older tools aren't even available in stores anymore.
Now, Kyle and his father will have to buy new tools so they can keep working on the things they love.
"I think it was an inside job. They knew my dad's lifestyle. They knew what he did and they knew this stuff was worth money," Danielle added.
Danielle and Kyle Piazza told us that police found a cell phone in their yard and are working to track down the owner in hopes of finding the burglar.