The pictures were from 15 years ago but through the power of social media and word of mouth, the pictured people were tracked down.
It made me smile and I can only imagine how good it must have felt for the people in the pictures to get them back, and also for the woman who bought the camera.
It reminded me of something Billy Macfarlane told me when we were discussing today's lead story.
"It's human nature to want to live comfortably and with a smile on your face."
As you may have read, the number of theft crimes reported to police in New Zealand and the Bay of Plenty is at a five-year high.
Police suspect the supply and sale of methamphetamine through our gangs was directly responsible for the increase.
And while Macfarlane admits gangs are part of the problem, he believes people are quick to blame them for all the wrongdoings in our region.
While there is no doubt in my mind gangs play a significant part in a crime in the Bay of Plenty, I tend to agree with Macfarlane.
He's saying people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
It's a saying most of you will be familiar with, meaning you shouldn't criticise other people for bad qualities that you may have yourself.
Macfarlane thinks before we blame others for problems in our community we should work to sort ourselves and our whānau out first.
As I understand it, his theory is if we clean up our own actions and those of the people around us, we won't need to worry about what other people are up to.
It makes sense. Think about like this: if everyone cleaned up their own dishes, a massive pile wouldn't mount on the bench.
We need to change the narrative around gangs. They're not all bad people doing bad things, the police have even admitted this previously.
I'm not defending the actions of those gang members who do cause a terrible lot of pain, however.
But before we throw stones, we should look around our own glass house and think about what we can do that would make a difference.
