Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City business is hoping people will keep an eye out for a huge 10-wheeler truck they say someone took off with right from their lumber yard. Surveillance video shows the theft, and now Salt Lake City police detectives are investigating the crime.
Jason Barnett, location manager at Sunpro overseeing the Salt Lake lumber division, explained how Monday morning from about 1:30 a.m. to just after 2 a.m., a man came through their yard after cutting a hole through the chain-link fence.
Surveillance shows the man heading toward where some 10-wheeler trucks are parked. Sparks fly in the air, as the man cuts the lock with what they are guessing was a grinder to open the gate. Minutes later, after hot-wiring a Sunpro truck stacked with lumber and I-joists in the back, he drives off and disappears into the night.
"The person was gutsy," Barnett said. "Like, I couldn't believe that someone really had that mentality just to say, 'Hey, I can walk in, just hop in this truck and just drive away.' It just made me question, what were they thinking?"
The truck was equipped with a red forklift on the back in addition to having the lumber and I-joists piled on the flatbed trailer. He estimates that everything is worth about $200,000 to $300,000.
"They got a big haul for what they did, so it's pretty mind boggling to think of how much money just walked away," Barnett said.
As Salt Lake police investigate, Sunpro is asking people to keep their eyes peeled for that rogue 10-wheeler taken in the head-scratching heist. Barnett said it's possible the person may try to sell the lumber "under the table" for cheap. The truck identification number is 04-3072 and the forklift has ID#39-3118
Anyone with information about the theft, or who sees anything suspicious, should reach out to Salt Lake police at 801-799-3000.
