$14,000 in equipment stolen from Minneapolis floor sander

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - For more than four decades, Don Christie has been smoothing over floors across the Twin Cities. But over the weekend, his floor sanding business hit a bit of a rough patch.

Christie was working a job in south Minneapolis last Friday and left his sander and other equipment in the building because it was secure.

But when he came back Monday morning, all his tools, worth about $14,000, were gone.

It was enough to nearly bring Christie to tears.

"You work so hard. I trust people. I over trust people and for someone to just come and take it like that. They don't realize what they do," Christie said.

The building's owner felt so bad about what happened, he started a crowd funding campaign to raise enough money for Christie to replace his stolen stuff, so far its raised about $4,000 of its $8,000 goal.

"I never heard of it. but I think its wonderful," Christie said. "I give to people all the time. I give all the time. I think now its coming back to me."

For now, Christie is renting equipment to complete the work he has lined up, but it costs him a couple hundred dollars a day.

Regardless of whether he gets his own sander back, he says he will continue to scratch the surface.

"They'll never keep me from sanding floors. Its been going on too long," Christie said.

This is not the first time, Christie's equipment has been stolen.

The same thing happened 10 years ago, except that time, someone broke into his house.

Christie says it took him three years to earn enough to replace the equipment. 

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call the Minneapolis Police Department at 612-692-8477.