MIAMI (WSVN) -- After a large truck filled with beer was stolen in Orlando, earlier in October, a trucker was left devastated -- until Miami Police detectives helped return it to him.
Van Thomas was trying to live the American dream. After years as a trucker, he bought his very own semi in early October and made a company of his own. However, while traveling from Texas to Pompano Beach, Thomas made a stop in Orlando that took everything he worked for away from him. Thomas was devastated to find that his tractor trailer was stolen from the truck stop. "I don't mean to cry about it, but I'm just trying to do the best I can and make a better life," said Thomas. At the time, Thomas was hauling 44,000 pounds of Miller High Life. That's about 9,700 four-packs of beer. Thomas was crushed. "I invested all my time and energy into this company and to have this happen at this stage of the game is really devastating right now." Thomas said it's a problem that drivers like him have to deal with all too often. A truck full of eggs was stolen earlier this year in Fort Myers, as well as a truck with Hershey's chocolate stolen last year in Volusia County and a truck filled with Slimfast that was swiped near Downtown Orlando. It's thousands of dollars gone from the truckers' pockets, and for Thomas, it was $2,300, plus the cost of his truck. However, when all looked grim, Thomas received a very welcoming phone call. Just as he was losing all hope, City of Miami Police detectives told him his semi had been found. "Oh, my God, that's beautiful," said Thomas. And, yes, some of that beer was still inside. "Oh, man. That's the best news I've heard, man. Thank you so much, man." Detectives are trying to figure out who stole Thomas' truck. They are also investigating whether the theft was part of a bigger ring. Original Story
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COVINGTON TOWNSHIP — A trucking company in Lackawanna County is missing a tractor, a trailer and about $100,00 worth of merchandise.
The owner of Naro Trucking in Covington Township thinks two people broke into the company’s yard earlier this week. He said, on Tuesday, someone stole a tractor trailer full of blue jeans. The trucking company near Gouldsboro is now out $150,000. It’s not the first time Naro Trucking has dealt with crooks, back in 2006 the company had a similar theft. “Right after that, I fenced the whole place in, ya know? Now here we are back in the same business,” said Ross Naro, the owner of Naro Trucking. The owner of the trucking company said he was surprised that the theft happened right off a main road in Lackawanna County. He said the people who did it, came off that road, broke the lock to the gate and headed in. “They took one tractor, went up to the top of the hill where we keep the rest of the trailers and went through all the trailers, probably about 15 of them,” said Naro. The owner said the people broke the seals on 15 trailers and looked for something they could make money on. He thinks, that’s why they took the shipment of blue jeans. Even though Naro Trucking has a security gate and cameras the owner said he now needs more. “We hired a security guard. He’s here from about 9 o’clock at night until 6 since the morning, 7 days a week. So there’s more of an expense,” said Naro. The owner said he doesn't have big hopes that the tractor, trailer and blue jeans will be back anytime soon, but he does want to know who is responsible. “Naturally, I’d like to see them caught. But, I don’t see that happening. “ The owner of the trucking company said he has reported the theft to Covington Township police. He is now working with his insurance company to see if it will cover the cost. Original News Story ST. PETERSBURG — A semitrailer truck stolen Sunday morning from a towing company was carrying approximately 36,000 pounds of Crisco sticks destined for delivery to a Publix distribution center in Lakeland, according to St. Petersburg Police Department reports.
The truck, a red 2005 Volvo with the Florida license tag 523 93P, had "NS Express LLC, Bowling Green, KY 42104" on both of the cab doors, police said; the trailer was a white Hyundai model with the Florida license tag 445 0PP. They were parked at Coastal Towing, 2390 118th Ave. N, at the time of the theft. In addition, police said thieves broke into another trailer carrying boxes from the Amazon distribution center in Ruskin. A number of boxes were opened and their contents removed, but it was not immediately known what items were stolen. Original Article By Aaron Bracamontes / El Paso Times Members of local law enforcement agencies that included El Paso Sheriff , El Paso Police Department, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau Members of local law enforcement agencies that included El Paso Sheriff's, El Paso Police Department, Fifteen people, including two alleged Barrio Azteca members, were arrested Thursday as a result of a cargo theft ring investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies. The arrests were made in various locations around El Paso, including a warehouse near the airport in the 20 block of Spur Drive. A tractor-trailer full of stolen flat screen TV's was seized at that location, said police spokesman Sgt. Chris Mears. Aldo Jose Cano, 32; Sammy Tercero, 39; Michael Navarrette, 24; Fernando Morales, 38; Cindy Avalos Morales, 30; Roberto Adrian Carreon, 32; and Jose Sanchez, 28; were arrested on suspicion of engaging in organized criminal activity in connection with high value cargo thefts, officials said during a press conference today. Cano is an alleged member of the Barrio Azteca gang, Mears said. Eight others, who had connections to the ring, were arrested on various warrants and smaller offenses. Two men, Andres Brito, 32, and Jeffrie Castandeda, 21, are also wanted on suspicion of engaging in organized criminal activity. The arrests were made by a task force comprising officers and agents from the El Paso Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, FBI, El Paso County Sheriff's Office and Department of Homeland Security. The task force had been investigating the thefts since 2013, but the ring's alleged activities had been traced back to 2009. Original Article KOLR10 News
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- A truck driver was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison on Thursday for a cargo theft scheme. According to a news release from the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, 49-year-old Michael Lee Sherley of Memphis, Tennessee pleaded guilty in March to stealing a trailer in West Plains. Sherley worked for Nu World Trucking, LLC, a company owned by his uncle, Earl Nunn. Nunn and Sherley drove semis without trailers, and went through truck stops and gas stations looking for trailers that were unattended. They would steal the trailers, and later sell of fence the items inside. On May 11, 2013, Nunn and Sherley stole a 2000 Wabash trailer from the Snappy Mart Truck Stop in West Plains. The trailer contained a load of Green Giant canned corn. Prosecutors believe Nunn and Sherley also committed thefts in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Nunn pleaded guilty in July and has not been sentenced. Original Article By Barry Tarnef In his latest blog, Barry Tarnef talks cargo safety and loss prevention. Click the brief clip below to lean more. And to know more about new, trending cargo-theft schemes New report says Chicago remains a hot spot for cargo thefts in Illinois.
Illinois, and more specifically, the Chicago area, just won’t turn loose of its reputation for being one of the truck cargo theft crime capitals in the U.S., according to a new report. The logistics security services provider FreightWatch International says in the second quarter of this year, Illinois ranked as the state with the fifth highest recorded cargo thefts. “Illinois is a hotspot for cargo theft activity, particularly in the Chicago area. With theft rates and average values well above the national average within several product types, it is clear that organized cargo theft is active in this area,” the report said. Examples of this include metals, the fifth most stolen product type since 2010, which is tied with the food/drinks category for the most stolen product type in Illinois during the same time frame. Another standout is the average value for alcohol/tobacco thefts in the state, which at $773,963 is the highest value of any product type in Illinois, and 246% higher than the national average for this product category of thefts over the same time period. It also noted auto/parts is the fourth most stolen product type in Illinois, while nationwide it's seventh. Clothing/shoes recorded an average value of $519,000 in the state, just over twice the average value of these thefts nationwide. While theft of the entire trailer or container is the primary theft type in Illinois, as it is across the nation, with 84.9% in Illinois and 81% nationally, other theft types, such as deceptive pickups, facility burglary and driver theft and hijacking, happen at lower frequency in Illinois than nationally. Original Article Logistics security services provider FreightWatch International said in the second quarter of 2014, it recorded 185 truck cargo thefts in the U.S., down 4.9% from the same time a year earlier. Of those, 179 were full truckload cargo thefts while six were last-mile courier thefts. The highest number, 70, of these thefts occurred in April, 66 in May, and 49 in June. The average loss value per incident during the quarter was $174,415, up 5.6% from the same time in 2013. “The average loss-value ceiling continues to rise as the persistence and increased sophistication of organized cargo criminals sustains,” FreightWatch said in its report. “Although the overall volume of incidents has decreased, the count is well within the margin of incidents expected to be collected in the upcoming weeks.” The product type most often stolen was food/drinks with 19% of all incidents in the U.S. during the quarter. Home/garden cargoes, the second most stolen category in the first quarter of the year, saw a 45% drop in incidents from 31 thefts to 17 thefts, to end the quarter as the fourth most stolen product type with 9% of the total. Electronics regained its position at the second place spot with 32 thefts, or 18% of the total, while the personal care category recorded triple the amount of thefts year-over-year, with 15 thefts or 8% of the total. The building/industrial sector experienced the third most thefts with 19 or 11% of total thefts. The category of pharmaceuticals had by far the highest of any category when it came to the average value of each heist at $2.8 million, while the electronics category was ranked second at nearly $305,000. There was a significant change as Florida and Texas both surpassed California as cargo theft hot spots. Florida had 45 thefts, or 25.1% of the total, and Texas had 29 thefts or 16.2% of the total, respectively. California recorded the third highest theft rate with 28, or 15.6% of the total, a 53.3% decline from the first quarter of the year and a 52.5% drop from the second quarter of 2013. “The suspected cause for this drop, according to the California Highway Patrol Cargo Theft Interdiction Program Taskforce, can be attributed to cargo theft crews relocating to other areas,” said FreightWatch. “Another possible cause is that the crews kept busy during the typically slower first quarter and are now lying in wait in the second quarter,” according to the taskforce. Rounding out the top five states with the most cargo thefts were Georgia and Illinois. These top five states accounted for nearly three-quarters of all U.S. truck cargo thefts in FreightWatch's data. Of the incidents in which a location was recorded, unsecured parking accrued the greatest number of incidents, primarily at truckstops, with a total of 113 thefts. Following previous trends, incidents involving theft of trailer/container were most common during the second quarter with 131 thefts, or 76% of all thefts. Theft from trailer/container consisted of 14 thefts, an increase of 40% as compared to the first quarter of the year, and was the second most prevalent theft type. In a tie for third, both deceptive pickup and facility burglary each had 10 thefts. However, the latter increased by 100% compared to second quarter of last year and 67% compared to first quarter of this year. Original Article FreightWatch International is warning that we may be seeing a new trend of cargo thieves attempting to use jamming devices to defeat tracking devices.
On July 22, a tractor and trailer hauling pharmaceutical products was stolen from a truck stop in Cartersville, Georgia. The truck was equipped with at least one tracking device concealed within the cargo. Evidence suggests that the thieves attempted to deploy two separate jamming devices to interrupt the communication of possible tracking devices on the shipment. The jamming was unsuccessful and law enforcement was able to track the shipment and recover the product intact. There were no arrests, though the investigation continues. FreightWatch notes that this incident follows closely on the heels of another, in which suspected cargo thieves were apprehended in possession of jamming equipment in Brevard County, Florida, on June 26. "These two incidents may indicate the beginning of a trend in which cargo thieves are attempting to utilize jammer devices in the U.S. as a counter-measure to covert GPS tracking," says the company, which sells cargo security tools but also tracks and analyzes cargo thefts and trends. "While the recent jamming events have not proven to be successful, the use of jamming technology represents a potential challenge to the theft recovery process and should be taken seriously," FreightWatch says. "Outside the U.S., jamming technology has been used by cargo thieves for some time and there are effective risk mitigation techniques deployed in those regions. If the risk of jamming in the U.S. quickly escalates, security programs will need to evolve to address the increased risk in the regions affected." Original Article By Tom Regan
BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — Thieves stole a tractor-trailer rig loaded with $2 million in pharmaceutical drugs and narcotics as it was parked and running outside a Bartow County truck stop early Tuesday morning. Investigators described it as a carefully planned heist. "A lot of times you hear of trucks taken off the grid, in situations like this, where narcotics get into the hands of individuals who can put them out on the streets." Bartow County sheriff’s investigator Jonathan White said. White told Channel 2's Tom Regan that the truck driver left his rig unlocked, with the keys inside, at a Pilot Travel Center on Cassville-White Road around 5.30 a.m. Tuesday. The driver went in to use the restroom and returned to find his rig gone, White said. Within a few minutes of the theft being reported, a tracking device on the trailer alerted the trucking company and police to its location. Investigators say the thieves tried to throw police off their trail by switching out the truck cab that was pulling the trailer. "Basically on this they had a truck on standby, to swap out that tractor and trailer with another one, so it would be concealed. And they used Velcro to over the license tag to conceal the plate and replace it with another one." said Investigator White. Georgia State Patrol and Bartow County sheriff's deputies tracked the stolen rig to an exit off Interstate 75. In a slow-speed chase, they followed the rig into an industrial park where the thieves stopped the truck, jumped out of the passenger door, and ran into nearby woods. Investigators recovered the drugs but said they are still looking those behind the heist, which they suspect was an inside job. "These are targeted, where they can strike in this transport chain, and get the trucks easily," Bartow County Sheriff's Sgt. Jonathan Rogers said. Rogers said it likely someone provided the thieves with information on what the truck was carrying. Other truckers said they take extra precautions when passing through the metro Atlanta area. "Whenever I get near Atlanta, I always get an alert to watch my truck, my trailer, because Atlanta is known for getting thefts." truck driver Adam Orcutt said. Another driver said he rarely loses sight of his truck. "We're very cautious; very much watch our load anywhere we got. [We] don't leave them alone anywhere," truck driver Rick Rusher said. Investigators said they are looking into the possibility that the thieves behind Wednesday’s scheme are part of a larger criminal network involved in truck theft. Original News Article |
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