FHP - Thieves hauling off dump trucks in St. Lucie County

Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

Published on Thursday, December 29, 2005
in the Vero Beach Press-Journal

Thieves hauling off dump trucks in St. Lucie County

St. Lucie County is in the top five statewide in dump truck thefts, according to the Florida Highway Patrol

They might not be sexy or sleek, but dump trucks, with their six-figure price tags and valuable parts, do have admirers — thieves.

And in St. Lucie County, bandits have been working overtime, spiriting away enough of the lumbering rigs to rank the county in the top five statewide in terms of dump truck thefts, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

As of mid-December, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties had each seen 21 dump truck thefts this year, behind 48 in Lee County and 28 in Miami-Dade County, FHP Lt. Bill Shiver said.

"We have so much construction, so much building going on around here, so many construction companies and so many trucking companies with dump trucks, we're just kind of a target-rich environment," St. Lucie County sheriff's Detective Darrell Russell said.

A variety of factors contribute to difficulties in nabbing dump truck desperadoes, he said.

Local rules sometimes prevent parking the vehicles in residential neighborhoods, so owners rent spaces at businesses or lots, which may or may not be secure and well-lit and which likely aren't staffed after hours. Four or five trucks — possibly as many as 12 — can be stored on a lot.

"They get to go in and pick and choose," Russell said. "If it's a locked fence, big deal, they're going to bring a pair of bolt cutters."

Many of the trucks get dismantled and the parts sold off. Others receive phony vehicle identification numbers and are re-sold. State and local investigators have little evidence they are shipped out of the country.

The ignition and locking systems of many commercial vehicles generally are easier to bypass than those on cars, despite the fact that new dump trucks cost several times more than an average family sedan.

Russell, whose agency is part of a statewide commercial vehicle and cargo theft task force with about 45 other sheriff's offices, said investigators identified two "rings" operating in South Florida and have made some arrests.

"We seem to be one step behind them, or about a half a step behind them," he said. "We just haven't got high enough up on the food chain to take them out of business yet."

But not all dump truck bandits get away.

A Miami man found that out the evening of Oct. 14, when sheriff's and state Department of Transportation investigators spotted him in a 2006 Peterbilt dump truck with no tag heading south on Interstate 95, a report states.

Yoel Garcia Prieto, 33, reportedly ignored the officers' lights and sirens and sped up, eventually exiting at Gatlin Boulevard and bailing out of the $132,000 dump truck, which had been stolen from Fort Pierce Palm Truck Centers on Orange Avenue.

Quindo, a sheriff's dog, apprehended Prieto, a Cuban citizen who told investigators he was paid $500 to drive the truck to Miami.

Greg Fittin, general manager of Palm Truck Center, said the theft "certainly" would have raised his insurance rates had the truck not been recovered.

New dump trucks generally cost $115,000 to $130,000, and — when stolen — can cause "catastrophic" effects on insurance.

"These people probably cased the joint," Fittin said. "They're pretty quick, they get in and they get out."

Russell said dump truck thieves know how the construction business works and use that inside knowledge to their advantage.

If a business, for example, closes on Sunday, they'll steal the dump truck on Saturday night so the theft won't be discovered until Monday, perhaps 36 hours later.

"We're only two and a half hours, tops, from Miami," he said. "They've had plenty of time to commute from here to there and hide the truck out in a warehouse."

Shiver, who coordinates FHP's role in the statewide task force, said the issue of dump truck thefts caught law enforcement's attention early this year when the investigation of a stolen truck on the west coast led investigators to more than 20 others that had been stripped and buried.

"It was obvious that these guys were stealing from all around the state," he said. "That's when the problem became blatantly obvious."

During a recent, late-night enforcement initiative, Russell and other state and local investigators cruised I-95 looking for violators. A burned out headlight or taillight was enough for a stop.

"While we're taking corrective action on whatever faulty equipment he's got or whatever his violation is, we're going to in turn take that opportunity to talk with him, see where he's going, where's he coming from, who's he got with him — all that good old-fashioned police work," he said.

Three and a half hours later, they'd made about 10 traffic stops and uncovered a variety of violations, but no stolen vehicles.

"We've yet to find anyone who just jumps up and down and screams and yells about us pulling them over and cutting them loose, because we're checking to make sure the truck's not stolen," he said. "Everybody's been like, 'Wow, thanks a lot.' "

December:

• Lee 48

• Miami-Dade 28

• Palm Beach 21

• St. Lucie 21

• Hillsborough 18

• Collier 14

• Manatee 14

• Polk 13

• Orange 12

• Brevard 7

• 256 dump trucks were stolen statewide at an estimated loss of $21.8 million.