Equipment worth ‘millions’ stolen in huge crime spree
Gang targets motorcycles, trucks, off-road vehicles in Essex County
Still stinging from the loss of “millions of dollars” in stolen equipment, several Essex County business owners believe they are victims of a well-organized and methodical gang of thieves on a crime spree across southern Ontario.
The stolen equipment includes motorcycles, off-road vehicles, work trailers, trucks and excavators.
“All the thefts that are going on around this area — and it’s not just here, it’s happening all across Ontario — it’s definitely organized,” said Jim Carey of J.R. Carey Enterprises, who started a Facebook page to spread the word about the crime spree. “They’re getting away with it, they know they can get away with it and they just keep coming back.”
Essex County OPP did not provide details of any related investigations before press time on Wednesday.
The targeted businesses include Carey’s excavating business in Chatham, Oliveira Equipment in Comber and several others that did not return phone calls Wednesday. Tilbury Auto Sales & RV Yamaha has been hit about seven times since the summer. The most recent break-in there was a couple weeks ago. On two different occasions, the thieves cut through the wall of a building. Owner Lindsay Belanger said the stolen property is worth about $150,000.
The first time, thieves took two Yamaha dirt bikes through a hole they sliced in the wall. “These guys, they’ll do anything to get what they need,” said Belanger.
Thieves stole a van during the second break-in. Someone later tried to take a diesel pickup truck but left it behind because they couldn’t get the snowplow up. Then two off-road utility vehicles disappeared, then three more. “They broke right into our building, cut a hole in the side, broke the chains, broke the locks, moved a vehicle and stole three side-bysides (off-road vehicles with two side-by-side seats) and an ATV,” said Belanger.
After that, a diesel truck was stolen. A few weeks ago, two trailers and two snowmobiles went missing.
“I believe it’s a gang, or a group,” said Belanger. “It’s the same time all the time, between 1:30 and 2:30 in the morning. We have pictures of them. We know how they dress. We know how they act. They seem to be picking us off consistently. There’s a rhythm to it.”
At Oliveira Equipment, someone absconded with an ATV and two side-by-sides early Monday. “The volume of units, the millions of dollars that are going out, insurance can only do so much,” said Steve Oliveira. “We’re the ones that are all going to suffer.”
Oliveira said the thieves took their time at his place. Going by the surveillance cameras, he said they were inside his business for 62 minutes.
Crime Stoppers said Oliveira’s vehicles were last seen on Highway 77 going toward Leamington. “The worst part is one was a sold unit,” said Oliveira. “The customer was supposed to come and get it this week. That was a $35,000 invoice.”
He said the stolen property, combined with damage to two other machines the thieves hot-wired then left behind, is worth about $80,000.
“The one they got going, they pretty much just rammed it into another one,” said Oliveira. After talking to Carey and other victims, Oliveira also believes the crimes are connected.
“It seems like it’s the same group, the same hot-wiring that they’re doing,” he said.
“If it was not related, it’s still disturbing. But I’m finding out this is going on all over my area here. It’s out of control. It’s like every week you hear of these massive heists going on.” Carey believes the crimes are connected based on security footage from some of the businesses. Earlier this month, he lost a mini excavator, two skid loaders, all the buckets and attachments to go with them and several other tools. It’s all worth more than $200,000, he said. Chatham-Kent Police issued a media release about it. “We’re talking grand theft,” said Carey. “These creeps, and they’ve caught them on surveillance in different places, they’re getting away with it.”
He started a Facebook page called Emergency Theft Alert and Recovery Assist so people can post photos and information about stolen property.
The page is full of posts from people trying to find all kinds of stolen equipment, from ATVs and work trailers to excavators and pickup trucks.
“At one point I had a message come from a guy who was actually behind my equipment,” said Carey. “He didn’t know it was stolen. That’s how close. If he had known, if that post was shared faster, they could have caught them.”