Be on lookout for stolen batteries

One of the local fertilizer plants got hit last week,17 batteries in one night.

Those deep cycles are worth a purty penny. Rv'ers love them as they make great house batteries.

Shame they got jacked. I can see why he's a bit pissed.

Sirscrapalot - Thieves, like mean people, suck. - Me..or maybe you, I dunno!

I am not sure if y'all have this or something similar in Maine, but in Colorado we have a thing called a "scrap theft report". It is basically an email that is sent to every scrapyard and police station in the state that gives a description and picture of the stolen material, the alleged perp and their vehicle. I get several of these a day, that way I keep my eyes open for stolen merch.

Here is what it looks like:

Theft Alert
Title: Theft of Craftsman Riding Lawnmower
Date of Occurrence: 5/20/2013 7:00 pm
Location: Littleton, CO 80128 US
Material: Ferrous metal
Details: Sears Craftsman Riding Lawn Mower, model #917270643, serial #061598A003195. The mower had a flat tire and a leak in the gas line.
Reported Value: $2,100.00
Photos:
Additional Info:
Law Enforcement Contact: Agency: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
Phone: 720-497-7236
Contact Name: James Taylor
Contact Email: jtaylor@jeffco.us
Case Identifier: 13-12749
ISRI File ID: CO1305220952552553

couple kids went and cut all the batteries out of a couple dozers and rock trucks out side of town in one of the pits. crazy thing is they were like a half km from the road...thats one hell of a walk with 100lbs batteries.

Here is a firsthand experience with scrap metal theft report:

A month ago I had some young guys bring in some religious bronze statues. It seemed a bit suspicious that they would have items of this sort so I questioned them about ownership. I also checked the SMT report and didn't find anything that matched. After doing my due diligence I told them that I would buy them, but if they turned out to be stolen we would give the cops a gift wrapped case including pictures, license plate numbers and a copy of their license. The way the guy was unconcerned and nonchalant about me saying this made me think he was the owner. (Usually when I start questioning tweakers and thieves they get all defensive and leave or I kick them out.)

I bought the bronze statues and had one of our yard guys put them in a storage warehouse because I couldn't bear to see something like that get chopped up and put in a smelter. Anyway last week I had all but forgotten about them, and I got a scrap metal theft report and low and behold it was the bronze statues (valued at $16,000!). I immediately contacted the detective on the case and he came down and filled out a report. Needless to say it was a pretty open and shut case...we had a picture of the load, a picture of the guy at the front desk, a picture of the guy withdrawing money from the ATM, a picture of his vehicle, license plate number and driver's license and a signed statement that said he was the rightful owner. The truck was registered to his buddy he was with (who I picked out of a lineup) and had a pretty extensive criminal history. The detectives were touting me as a hero (which I disagree with, I felt more sheepish about purchasing stolen material than anything), and we were able to return the material to the Catholic church it was stolen from. The priest showed up in his clerical collar to pick the statues up!

As I said I felt a little sheepish about buying the material but I am glad it went back to the rightful owner, instead of going to an unscrupulous scrap dealer . My company is out $1500, but I learned a valuable lesson: always trust your instincts. The guy was an awesome liar (he would have made a great politician), but I still felt an underlying doubt. Moving forward I won't purchase any religious or cemetery bronze even if they have proof of ownership. It is just not worth it in the long run.

Had the church not put out a notification on Scrap Metal Theft Report I would have never known they were stolen. The thief scrapped them literally hours before they were reported stolen. It also goes to show you that time is of the essence in these things...I got the report 1 month after they were reported stolen!?! Had I not set these aside they might be gone forever! I am not a religious man, but the whole thing really was serendipitous.

I will keep y'all updated when I hear something about the sentencing. The detective said more than likely these kids will take a plea deal because they all have extensive criminal pasts, and it would not behoove them to put their fates in the judge's hands. I hope these scumbags get prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The only thing worse than a thief is a thief that steals from a church!

Can't you go after them to pay back the $1500? If it went to a judge I am sure he would make them pay back a little at a time.

I am going to pursue reimbursement, but I'm not going to hold my breath. My company was the real victim of this crime. Although it is a drop in the bucket for the company, $1500 is real money and I will pursue it out of principle at this point.

If you follow the letter of the law you have nothing to be sheepish about. But trusting your instincts was smart and your sense of value really paid off. As a religous man I dont put much stock in "items" made by men as the only thing that matters to the Big Guy is what is inside. But what these things represented to the church is important, and you are a hero to those of us that try to do right because you did NOT chase the quick buck and send them off. Which brings me to another point...why I would love to own a scrap yard. I see so much "good" stuff being junked every day that i wish my local yard would open a type of retail store for odds and ends, just like they do for car parts. Basically have a big outbuilding with one entrance/exit and put in stuff that shows up that has some sort of resale value. People would love to come picking through this stuff! I see good stuff being dumped every single time i go to the yard, i want to scream sometimes! Anyway, you did good so hold your head up!

Originally Posted by shendog

If you follow the letter of the law you have nothing to be sheepish about. But trusting your instincts was smart and your sense of value really paid off. As a religous man I dont put much stock in "items" made by men as the only thing that matters to the Big Guy is what is inside. But what these things represented to the church is important, and you are a hero to those of us that try to do right because you did NOT chase the quick buck and send them off. Which brings me to another point...why I would love to own a scrap yard. I see so much "good" stuff being junked every day that i wish my local yard would open a type of retail store for odds and ends, just like they do for car parts. Basically have a big outbuilding with one entrance/exit and put in stuff that shows up that has some sort of resale value. People would love to come picking through this stuff! I see good stuff being dumped every single time i go to the yard, i want to scream sometimes! Anyway, you did good so hold your head up!

Thanks for your encouragement! I take pride in not making many mistakes in my professional and personal life, but when mistakes are made I own up and take my lumps.

It's funny that you mentioned a retail sector, because that is my next project here at work. It makes me sick to see all the usable, beautiful stuff that gets scrapped and melted down. I decided that I want to start finding a home for some of the stuff. Just last week I had a customer scrap 50 working digital hotel safes (the kind you see in almost every hotel) that I pulled out and put in our warehouse. Yesterday I pulled 3 vintage brass belt buckles out of the brass bin and looked them up on ebay. One just like it just sold for $35!

Last week I saw the following things come through that I didn't have time to salvage: an anvil, an awesome vintage Corona cooler and tons of Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep doors, quarter panels and hard tops from the factory, new in the box still.

If anyone in the Denver area is an Ebay power seller and wants to work out a consignment deal, send me a message and maybe we can help each other out.

That's super thinking Bo, and Shen, there's untold things still perfectly good, antique, or whatever sold as scrap. Sadly enough, much of it is often being sold by other than it's rightful owner, but who can know for sure, as much pilfering goes on all around us every day, unknown to anybody but the offender and the victim, and You just can't tell the difference between good items that were pilfered and items that were merely part of a clean-out, but that would be the loss of the seller. Whether it's a loss to the seller or a pilfering victim was actually not the point I had intended to make though.
If you're going to pull items scrapped at scrap prices, and sell them as antiques, I wouldn't recommend doing it on the same property, or under the same company name, because people will catch on to that very quickly, and soon be wanting to know why you only paid them $5 (plus or minus) for the same item you've got marked at retail for $50(plus or minus) These prices are only examples, but I guess you get the idea. Very soon they'd stop coming to the scrap yard and begin instead to taking all their scrap to sell at the retail store.
I once was browsing through a thrifty nickels miscellaneous ads and came across two ads together that both had the same phone number. They had likely been placed during the same call, by someone thinking they'd be placed randomly at different locations in the paper. One said "We Buy Junk", the next said "We Sell Antiques", side by side, same phone number ; )