This is why I have a job:
Heavy-equipment thefts that plague Poconos are awfully easy to pull off
By Chad Smith, Pocono Record Writer
Picture this: You’re taking an afternoon stroll in a residential neighborhood where several houses are under construction and you see a person driving an earth-mover down a street.
Would you think that the person driving the earth-mover just stole it and was off to sell its parts on the black market?
If not, you’re probably like most people. Which explains why the thieves who made off with two earth-moving tractors and a dump truck from construction sites and municipal lots in Monroe County recently haven’t run into much resistance.
That such large pieces of machinery can just “disappear” seems implausible, but this equipment, worth big bucks, seems to be designed to make it more susceptible to theft.
“Who would ever think that these huge things would get stolen? But they do,”…..
….According to a report released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau in 2009, there were about 13,450 nationwide reports of heavy equipment thefts. The state that saw the most such thefts was Texas. Only 18 percent of the stolen equipment was recovered. In contrast, 57 percent of motor vehicles reported stolen over the same period were recovered.
In September 2010, a Caterpillar excavator was stolen from the Glenbrook Golf Course in Stroudsburg. Police reports said several pedestrians saw someone driving the 8-ton excavator down the street but thought nothing of it…..
….New York City Police Department in 2009 broke up a crime ring in the Bronx responsible for stealing nearly 50 tractor-like vehicles and luxury cars from construction sites, public streets and garages.
The ring, the Attorney General’s Office said at the time, specialized in stealing backhoes and excavators, which were eventually resold — to perhaps both witting and unwitting customers — in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and even the Dominican Republic…..
For the full article, click here.
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