Vigilant shopper spots stolen windows on eBay

Thanks to a vigilant online shopper, two historic homes in Newport and Covington will be getting back their stolen historic windows.

No one knew what happened to the windows stolen last year from two 19th Century homes until this week.

That's when stained glass window collector and local bar owner Carl Fox saw a window that looked familiar on eBay.

It appeared to be similar to one stolen out of an old home a block away from his bar, the Crazy Fox Saloon.

The brown panes were unlike any other he had seen due to their simple, austere nature without any adornment. The small brown window going for $895.

"It's got to be the one," Fox said. "Nobody would make a window like that."

The stolen window even appeared in his Facebook feed in an ad asking whether he might be interested in buying it. While searching through the stained glass windows on eBay, he noticed another beveled glass window he recognized from a 150-year-old yellow brick house Covington near Rosie's Tavern, a bar he used to own. Thieves also purloined that window last year. That was selling for $1,300, but Fox thinks the ornate beveled glass is worth three times that amount.

"Nobody gets those windows for those prices," Fox said. "They were selling it for a third of what it's worth."

He contacted authorities who tracked the windows to an antique store on Wilmer Avenue in Anderson Township. Police with Newport and Cincinnati recovered the windows but have not found the thief. Police don't believe the antique store owner was to blame. Cincinnati, Newport and Covington police are still trying to track down the thieves. The store owner had no information the person he bought the windows from, according to the Newport Police report.

"He has cooperated with us 100 percent," said Cpl. Larry Long with the Newport Police. "He got scammed by the people who stole the items."

The owners of the two homes could not be reached for comment. Both homes are under renovation and didn't appear to currently be occupied. For Fox, the good guys won this round. As a stained glass collector, he's overjoyed to have the windows returned. The windows from Covington, in particular, are treasures, he said.

"I was crying, happy and smiling," Fox said. "I love the fact that they were restored in that beautiful home."