Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Recovery Date: none
Value of stolen items: not determined
Thieves take toilets, kitchen cabinets, countertops, pipes, bathtubs, carpet and dishwashers, mainly from unfinished houses, according to the Anchorage Daily News. The loot also includes lumber, siding, windows and roofing material. So far, police have made few arrests in the crimes. Chuck Spinelli, owner of one of the areas largest home-building companies, told the newspaper he used to see an average of four or five thefts at the more than 200 homes he builds in a year. Now, he is getting hit with 10 a month.
In October, a thief or thieves with a flat-bottom truck stole more than $13,000 worth of materials from a construction site in broad daylight. To combat the thieves, builders are wrapping heavy chains around equipment, putting their name on everything they can and installing expensive video cameras at their construction sites.
