Pile of stolen safes and ATM machines found dumped in Santa Susana Pass

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- Several stolen safes and ATM machines were discovered on a steep hill in the Santa Susana Pass, and thankfully, the items fell into the hands of good Samaritans.

"I was walking down right over here off of Santa Susana Pass near Rocky Peak, and looked down the hill and see a whole bunch of safes. It was crazy," said David Weisberg.

Weisberg and his girlfriend Nancy Nicoloro were in the area picking up trash with the nonprofit group Volunteers Cleaning Communities.

When they came across the pile of safes and ATMs, they decided to investigate.

"I hiked down there, and there was like seven of them, and there was a lot of paper work and personal items all sprawled around," said Weisberg. "It's like ... literally hacksawed open, most of them, and they looked similar."

The couple began sifting through the paperwork and were able to gather contact information for one of the victims of a stolen safe.

"We were able to connect with them and give them back their stuff, and they were very happy about that," said Weisberg. "The items that we found in the safe, or around the safe, were passports, there were birth certificates, a wedding album of the victim's daughter, there was a full living trust."

Nicoloro indicated the victim had stored money in the safe.

"[He] said, 'Oh, that $5,000 is probably gone."

Nicoloro even decided to look for her own safe, which was also stolen.

"I looked and thought, 'My safe has to be out there somewhere,' so when we found their safe, I felt really passionate about it because I thought, 'Wow.' It was like closure for me almost that they had the same documents in their safe that I had in mine own safe."

The couple said they don't believe the thieves were engaged in identity theft because the multiple stolen safes were filled with personal information but no money.

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating.