SHERIFF’S deputies in Oregon, the United States, were investigating the peculiar case of a log cabin that was reported stolen only to be found two days later less than a mile (1.6 km) from where it was taken, authorities said Friday.

    The mystery began earlier last week when a man identifying himself as a co-owner of the vacant cabin, which occupied about 1,400 square feet (130 square meters) on a remote lot some 270 miles south of Portland, had been snatched from its foundation.

    “I’ve seen a lot of scams but I’ve never seen an entire house gone missing,” Klamath County sheriff Frank Skrah, who has spent 40 years in law enforcement.

    “I was sitting in a meeting and one of the deputies from the front desk came in and said, ‘Frank, you’re not going to believe this. Someone just stole a house,’” Skrah said.

    After some investigation, detectives found the house Thursday about a half mile away in the Sprague River community northeast of Klamath Falls. It had been jacked up and hauled off by a hired logging company, detective Eric Shepherd said.

    It turned out, Shepherd said, that one of three individuals claiming to hold title to the cabin had sold the property to a fourth person without informing the putative co-owner who had discovered it missing.

    The man who purchased the home for US$3,000 had no idea that it had been reported stolen, the sheriff said.

    Skrah said police were still trying to determine if the situation is a criminal case or a civil matter. None of the property owners, nor the buyer, could be reached for comment.

    “To quote the guy who bought the place, ‘It was a hell of a steal.’ Yeah, it was a hell of a steal,” Skrah said.

    (SD-Agencies)