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Stolen memories: Minn. family begs for photos thieves took along with cameras

One of the posters a Northfield, Minn. family has put up pleading with thieves to return stolen photos. CBS Minnesota
(CBS) NORTHFIELD, Minn. - Keep the stolen cameras, but return the memory sticks in them that hold our irreplaceable family photos.

That's the plea being made by the Langan family in Northfield, Minn., where there's been a series of recent car break-ins, according to CBS Minnesota, in which the Langans lost cameras containing precious memories.

Last Saturday, someone broke into the family's van and took two cameras. John Langan says the thieves can keep the electronics, but they want the contents of those cameras back.

"I noticed that the glove compartment and the little storage container in between the seats were wide open," Langan said. "It was pretty obvious that someone had broken into the van."

After the burglary, the Langan family put up posters all over town, that read, "Have a Heart Please."

"Yes, we lost the camera and a camcorder and there's value in that, but they're priceless as far as the memories of our kids," he said, according to CBS Minnesota.

The Langans have four kids, ages 9 to 16 years old. There were five years' worth of childhood memories stored in the stolen cameras.

"Things like first communion, sports, school activities," he said.

It's not their first "photo disaster."

"We had a fire eight years ago and we lost baby pictures and much younger pictures of them," Langan said.

"I feel like we're never going to get those back," Langan said. "We don't care about the cameras. We want those memory sticks back. Hopefully they didn't erase our kids' memories off those memory sticks."

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