Glad to hear you got it back Bay. Sorry to hear the problem was caused by ignorance. Why do people do that? A little solder and a piece of heat shrink tubing would have prevented the whole mess.
I found similar stupidity down at the new place the other day. The previous owners used to have a motor home on the property. Over where it used to sit I found a piece of romex sticking up out of the ground with electrical tape wrapped around it. The wire itself was buried in the ground, no conduit. Plain, white romex, direct buried in the ground! To top it off, I toned it back to the electrical panel and found it still connected to a breaker, and the breaker in the ON position! That motor home was gone for a couple of years before they moved out, meaning those hot wires were sticking up like that for a while, and they had little kids running around down there.