TULSA, Okla. — The owner of a downtown Tulsa Airbnb was the recent victim of thieves losing more than $3,000 worth of items in the heist.
Thieves stole 19 items the Airbnb near 1st and Main in December. Now Tulsa police need your help identifying the three people they believe are connected to the crime.
The thieves took TVs, kitchen appliances, furniture, a dryer, and many other items from this Airbnb during a two night booking.
“The cleaners when they came in they found lots of thing missing were missing and then the washer was in the middle of the living room, all the furniture was moved around,” Melody Allwine, Airbnb host, said.
The Airbnb host says she’s had guests break items or have something like a towel go missing, but never in her 10 years of managing Airbnbs has she had 19 items stolen during a guests stay. Thankfully, Airbnb has an air cover policy for situations like this.
“We filed a claim with the air cover and then they were able to assess the amount that was due to us and then paid that,” Allwine said.
Although, she says they had to pay some money out of pocket to restock all the missing items.
Tulsa police want to talk to these three people about the theft. If you recognize them call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.
“It was one person that rented it. I guess the other three were people that went in. I don’t know if they actually stayed there but they frequented the place while it was being rent,” said Officer Andre Baul, Tulsa Police Department.
He says they don’t get many reports of items being stolen from these types of rentals. Both Officer Baul and the host say there’s only so much Airbnb owners and hosts can do to protect themselves.
“They can always put up security camera outside to see if anything is leaking make sure nobody is hauling away stuff,” Baul said.
Allwine says she suggests having insurance and vetting guests.
“I try to look people up on social media," Allwine said. "I try to reach out and communicate with them prior to their stay to find out why they are coming to town, verify the guest count, things like that in order to try to mitigate this from happening.”
Allwine also says you have to have a whole lot of trust.
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