Four Cambria landscapers have reported the theft of thousands of dollars in tools this week.
Sheriff’s spokesman Rob Bryn said it’s often “tempting to take the risk” of not securing tools, “but leaving them unsecured is unwise at best.”
Published: 2:10 pm Friday, Apr. 15, 2011
Updated: 2:12 pm Friday, Apr. 15, 2011
Rash of tool thefts hit Cambria landscapers
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He said deputies don’t know yet who took the equipment, but “over the last year, we’ve had dozens of these cases” in which groups have come up from the Los Angeles to take landscaping equipment.
“We’ve actually had commercial gardeners who have large, enclosed trailers they pull behind a pickup truck, where they actually back it up against a wall” to make sure it’s secure, Bryn said, “and the thieves still broke into it.
Monday night or Tuesday morning, someone stole five chain saws and a hedge trimmer from arborist Blair McCormick’s shed on Wood Drive.
That same night, someone took more than $6,000 worth of tree-trimmer Dennis White’s tools, including seven chain saws, from a shed on Ramsey Avenue.
Thursday at 8:41 a.m., Jose Rameriz reported that $1,600 in tools had been taken out of a shed in the 2700 block of Wilton Drive.
At 9:46 a.m., tree trimmer Tim Radecki told officials that nothing had been taken, but his toolboxes were left open, perhaps by someone who was interrupted before taking the equipment.
And at 1:46 p.m., landscaper Mike Rice reported that $1,100 worth of tools, including a chain saw, lawn edger and gas blowers, had been stolen out of the back of his truck.
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