An electric company lacks a 60 -ton crane that disappeared from a place in the Power Line project in Columbus, Ohio, where it was used to separate the steel towers.
The Kenworth Long Boom 2019 national crane, valued at $ 500,000, was stolen behind the Casino de Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs in the area of 4999 Parsons AVE., where Kent Power Co., Winchester Channel, Ohio, is demolishing the gelosy of steel that are used to transport high voltage transmission lines.
The keys had been left in the cabin, according to SGT. Bill Duffer of the Franklin County Xerif office, which is investigating the robbery.
“The truck [on the crane] He had a GPS under the board that was pulled and the license plates were eliminated, “says Joe Romecki, director of the Kent Power Business Unit for his Midwest South substation line.
As the crane driving and maneuver requires experience, Romecki says he believes that the robbery was not a crime of comfort.
“Someone not only appears and steals this type of team,” he says. “This one was planned. Someone knew what they did. I hate to think it was internal.” The crane has a change of stick and requires 10 points in some conditions, adds Romecki.
“It’s difficult to maneuver,” he says. “You have to have experience leading great assets like that.”
Romecki says his company had already installed new power lines and is demolished by the old towers for a project “that feeds local residents and a large Google installation that comes in.”
The robbery did not affect the power for residents or for Google, which is building a data center in the area.
Romecki says that the crane is used to choose steel sections and place them safely on the floor. “This will delay us in achieving the demolition [of the lattice towers] done, “he says.
Duffer says that construction theft is a common problem, but it is usually not of this magnitude.
“I have been doing it for 30 years, we have stolen a couple of semis, but never a crane,” he says. “It has probably been taken out so far where they can try to sell it or do something with it. There is a black market for everything.”
The company is installing a portable alarm system and a place camera on the site, not previously done because it had just started work, according to Romecki.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau and the National Team Registry estimate that the robbery of heavy construction equipment costs between $ 300 and $ 300 million each year, not including the theft of tools or property damage that may occur during a robbery.
