SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Sioux Falls police have recovered a large number of stolen pistols, rifles and shotguns. Almost every one of them came out of an unlocked vehicle in a rural area. 

What started as an effort to track down stolen Apple Air Pods, led police to the discovery of 17 stolen shot guns, rifles, and pistols.

“The owner had used the GPS to track them down. Found out that the stolen air pods were inside a house in the 200 block of South Summit Avenue,” said Sioux Falls police officer Sam Clemens.

Police got a search warrant and recovered the air pods, along with the stolen weapons, including an AR 15, several shot guns and even a laser sighted pistol.

“We know for sure 12 of these stolen guns came from unlocked cars,” said Clemens.

While the guns were found in Sioux Falls, they were all stolen from small towns like Garretson, Renner, Humboldt and Baltic and rural areas in five different counties.

“We’ve talked about this in terms of Sioux Falls and locking your cars and not leaving guns in your cars, but it goes for everywhere. If anybody gets this message and they have guns in their cars, don’t leave them in your car overnight. Make sure your cars are locked even if you’re out in the middle of nowhere and you don’t think it’s an issue. There are people that are specifically looking for unlocked cars and they’re looking for guns,” said officer Clemens.

Now police are looking for 23-year-old Mitchell Luis Arevalo.  He’s wanted on a $10-thousand warrant for possession of stolen property. Arevalo was also arrested in 2016 for possession of cocaine and two stolen firearms. In that case, he was given a suspended sentence of a year in jail.

The weapon owners have all been notified, but five of them didn’t even realize their gun was missing.