Stolen Plate Returned To Veteran

Rich Tondrea’s vehicle was parked in Ricky’s Shopping Center last summer when someone stole the rear license plate. It was a rather distinctive vanity plate: a veteran’s plate with a US flag on it.

Mr Tondrea, who served in the Army in Vietnam and is a former historian of the American Legion post, reported the theft to the police and went to the motor vehicle department in Danbury to get new plates. Apparently whoever took the plates had a change of heart after the September 11 tragedy in New York City. The Saturday after the disaster, Mr Tondrea was at Ricky’s Shopping Center again. When he returned to his unlocked vehicle, someone had left the missing plate, wrapped in a full-page “We Stand Together” newspaper insert, on the front seat.

 “The expiration sticker was still on it – the only thing missing was the bolts,” Mr Tondrea said.

The Mile Hill South resident said the plate is now back on his vehicle, and he holds no ill will. But he is curious and wonders who took it.

“If the World Trade center didn’t happen, it probably never would have been returned,” he said. “I guess someone had a change of heart.”

The veteran’s plate is back on Mr Tondrea’s vehicle, but now it will be harder to remove.

“This time I riveted it on,” Mr Tondrea explained.