Police Find Stolen 400lb Playground Slide Attached To Child's Bunkbed In House

A man is facing charges of possession of stolen property after he allegedly stole a massive slide from a play park and stuck it to a bunk bed in his house.

Whilst this sounds like a lot of fun - we'd all love a slide attached to our bed, right? - it's a serious issue and you shouldn't go about nicking items from the local playground.

However, that is what 30-year-old Dustin Allen Bushnell from Burbank, Washington, stands accused of.

According to the Pasco Police Department, he was arrested on Tuesday after evidence from another spate of thefts - this time catalytic converters - led them to his property.

Upon entering the property to further investigate, they found a 400lb blue playground slide, which had been reported as lost or stolen - but, let's face it, how do you lose a 400lb slide? - in December 2020.

Apparently, Bushnell had sawn it off, painted it blue, and installed it onto the bunk bed in a child's bedroom at his mobile home, investigators allege.

They also found a load of catalytic converters, but Bushnell has yet to be charged with the theft of the car parts.

A Facebook post by Pasco Police reads: "Do you remember back in mid-December when we reported the theft of playground equipment from the city park at Tierra Vida?

"Just like Pepperidge Farms [a reference to a popular American advertising campaign] Detective Julie Lee remembered, too.

"On February 26, when she came face-to-face with a 400-pound playground slide inside a kid's bedroom in a mobile home in Burbank, she knew what she had."

The lengthy post continues: "How she got there is another story.

"It involved some of those annoying catalytic converter thefts, where thieves cut up your car's exhaust system just so that they can sell your cat converter to a scrap metal dealer for the value of the heavy metals inside it.

"The metals are valuable, but the cost to the victim is more, including the purchase of a new converter, the labour to weld the exhaust system back together, and the annoyance of driving around with straight pipes until it gets done."

"Anyway, to make a long story as short as a cut-off exhaust pipe, our Crime Prevention guy put out some good info on some suspects in the thefts, sharp-eyed patrol officers found a matching truck with suspects, Detective Lee came over to help, and about five search warrants later, Detective Lee found herself inside the suspect's home in Burbank, looking for catalytic converters and finding a gigantic slide. Oh, yes, she also found catalytic converters. And other detectives helped.

"Turns out, most of the original playground set got left behind back in December, but the slide was taken, the top sawed off, it was repainted, and it was mounted on a bunkbed.

"Pasco Parks and Rec arrived and recovered the slide."

Featured Image Credit: Pasco Police

Topics: Police, US News, crime, Weird

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

@TPWagwim