Police in South Carolina are mowing through calls after asking the public for tips on a serious crime committed against a landscaping company on Friday morning.
According to local news affiliate WISTV, police in Forest Acres, SC are on the hunt for thieves who stole over $30,000 worth of landscaping equipment being stored in a trailer.
To make matters worse, the criminals didn’t just steal the equipment; they stole the entire trailer, as well as the truck it was attached to.
The stolen goods in question belong to Superior Southern Landscaping. Among the items inside the trailer were mowers, lumber, and trimmers, as well as thousands of dollars’ worth of personal tools belonging to employees.
An employee of Superior Southern Landscaping, Dustin Westmoreland, says that the trailer was being kept at a home the company was renting. When employees arrived, ready to start work for the day, their Dodge Ram truck and trailer were nowhere to be found.
“My major concern ever was that somebody would break into the trailer,” said Westmoreland. “It never crossed my mind that they would take the trailer not to mention the truck it was attached to.”
The U.S. landscaping industry generates an estimated $74 billion of revenue annually and involves some expensive equipment, so it’s no surprise that it is often a target of thieves.
According to the Darien Daily Voice, a landscaping truck with a loaded gun inside of it was recently stolen. The perps took the truck while an employee was landscaping at a client’s home — in broad daylight.
The truck was found the next day, but police are still searching for the person responsible for the theft, and neither the gun or equipment has been recovered.
In the case of Superior Southern Landscaping, the company says they do have insurance to cover the losses, but say that it will take weeks for their claim to be processed.
They add that the theft will result in lost work time as they now only have one truck to take to jobs. Locals are being encouraged to contact Crimestoppers with any information on the truck’s whereabouts.