Thieves hit Snelling castle. Stolen property includes belongings of owners' late son

In true castle fashion, Snelling's Kasteel Noz special-events venue is fairly well fortified, said owner Casper Noz. He dug a trench around the property and erected a barbed-wire fence, with rolled barbed wire behind that, the Denair resident said.

But that didn't stop thieves from breaking in sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday morning and making off with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of property from the castle shop.

"They probably cut through 10 feet of barbed wire, the crooks," Noz said Thursday morning. "They probably have been staking me out," he added, noting that almond-growing neighbors of the castle have taken photos of men in a car who appear to have been scoping out properties in the area.

But it would have taken more than a car to steal all the property Noz, his wife, Diane, and their family lost, he said. He speculates the theft would have required at least a long-bed truck and a couple of trips.

Noz's son-in-law posted on Facebook a lengthy but only partial list of what was taken. Among the items were a 9,000-watt generator, a 40-inch plasma TV, a motorcycle and riding gear, four patio heaters and welding equipment. He said the damages and stolen property exceeded $50,000.

"If they had just stolen and damaged things, it would suck, but it would be manageable," the post reads. "Anyone who knows our family knows that Casper and Diane lost their son Josh in March of 2016. The Coast Guard sent his things and for grieving parents, many of them were just too hard to look at. Many of the stolen items belonged to Josh."

Joshua Noz, 28, a Coast Guard petty officer stationed in Honolulu, died there after a motorcycle crash March 27, which was Easter Sunday.

"He was a mechanic, and a really good one," Noz said of his son. Josh loved old cars, and his father bought him a 1968 Camaro to restore. When Josh joined the Coast Guard, the restoration got put on hold, and things like side panels and a replacement engine were stored in the shop and now are gone.

So are his tools, of which there were many, "so he could take anything and everything apart or put it together."

Josh first was stationed in Seattle before going to Hawaii, and there was only so much he could take with him. So the thieves took "quite a bit of his personal stuff with them," Noz said. "My wife's family is in the gun business, so he had reloading stuff — he would make his own ammunition — so all that's gone, too."

It wasn't hard to compile a list of what was taken, Noz said. Some of it, including welding equipment, he'd just been using to make furniture as Christmas gifts. Also, his shop is "kind of packed to the brim," he said, "so when there's a couple hundred feet of empty space, you notice."

The family filed a report with the Merced County Sheriff's Department and asked on Facebook, "If you find something on Craigslist or eBay, let us know asap."

No news has come in yet, Noz said Thursday morning. In the meantime, he's been putting razor wire around the property, installing sensors and sleeping there at night, he said.

About 10 or 12 years ago, a similar theft occurred at Kasteel Noz, he said. After that, too, he began staying at the property. "I was out there 30 days and on Day 31, they broke in again, the first day I left it unguarded."

Showing he has a sense of humor even in light of the latest theft, Noz added, "If they would only tell me when they're breaking in, I'd make sure to be here."

This story was originally published December 21, 2017 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Thieves hit Snelling castle. Stolen property includes belongings of owners' late son."