‘He restored my faith in humanity’; Los Angeles man finds, returns stolen family photos
A week after thieves ransacked a Los Angeles family’s storage unit, a good Samaritan found their precious, stolen photos cast away on a street and returned them to the owners.
David Shaban told KTLA he was walking down Ventura Boulevard in Studio City when he first noticed a couple of boxes under a tree.
At first glance, Shaban said he thought the boxes were just full of trash and almost kept walking – but something told him not to.
And so, with a closer look, Shaban realized there were family photos inside.
“Someone’s got to do it,” Shaban told KTLA’s Angeli Kakade. “These photos are core memories that mean nothing to anyone but the owner.”
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A good Samaritan finds and returns family photos that were stolen during a Studio City storage unit ransacking. February 2025. (David Shaban) -
A good Samaritan finds and returns family photos that were stolen during a Studio City storage unit ransacking. February 2025. (David Shaban) -
A good Samaritan finds and returns family photos that were stolen during a Studio City storage unit ransacking. February 2025. (David Shaban) -
A Studio City man looks through the photos he thought he lost when his storage unit was ransacked, but that a good Samaritan found and returned to him. February 2025. (KTLA) -
A Studio City man looks through the photos he thought he lost when his storage unit was ransacked, but that a good Samaritan found and returned to him. February 2025. (KTLA)
Shaban then picked the boxes up, brought them home and turned to the social media network Twitch for help in finding the owner.
“I started dropping names into the chat and I was like, ‘Cool, there’s nothing wrong with just calling these numbers you guys are giving me,’” said Shaban.
Eventually, Shaban called Los Angeles resident Neil Klasky.
“[Shaban] asked, ‘Were you recently robbed?’ And I said ‘I was, how do you know that?’” Klasky recounted. “He said ‘Well, I think I found a bunch of your belongings on the street.’”
Klasky said that the storage unit near his parking spot was broken into last weekend.
Surveillance video of the ransacking showed thieves pulling into the carport, breaking into the storage unit and getting away with the photos which – thanks to the kindnesses of one stranger – Klasky is now reunited with.
“And the first thing I see is a picture of my son at his fourth birthday party,” said Klasky.
Going through the photos, Klasky said the memories that he was so close to losing came back.
“When same-sex marriages became legal in California, it was on my son Palmer’s first birthday so we had another wedding just in our backyard,” said Klasky, pointing to one of the photos.
Klasky said he is forever grateful for Shaban’s act of kindness.
“He seriously restored my faith in humanity,” said Klasky.
“I think you gotta look at your community as your neighbor and your friends you know that’s what I did,” said Shaban.