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Caught On Tape: Homeowner Exacts Revenge On Snow Shovel Thief

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Don't mess with David Welles. Because it's his business, he's got a huge setup of security cameras around his house.

And they caught quite the drama after midnight last Wednesday outside his Humboldt Park residence during the height of the blizzard.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Mike Krauser reports

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First, somebody took his snow shovel. In a video that he's pieced together, you can see a woman out walking her dog outside, checking out her snow-covered car. She quickly grabs a snow shovel off Welles' front porch, then goes back to her car to shovel it out.

All well and good, Welles says, but then she disappeared with the shovel.

It was payback time.

So, he covered her car in snow with his snow blower. Welles says it was not his intent to harm her vehicle, just make it difficult for her to extricate it.

Nearly 200,000 have viewed the video he posted online. To some, he's a hero; to others, a villain.

"People are telling me I should have broken her windows or slashed her tires," Welles told CBS 2's Mike Parker. "All I did was blow snow on her car."

"Some people think it's one of the most heinous things they've ever seen," he said.

On Monday night, the shovel mysteriously returned to Welles' property. It was found propped against his garage. The thief's identity is still unknown.

He has a good use for the shovel: Welles wants to dig a snow igloo for his small daughter. That's why he was so mad in the first place, he told Parker.

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