Flood-Relief Generators, Motors Stolen From Locked Cargo Trailers

Police are investigating aggressive burglaries to several cargo trailers that were aiming to bring flood-relieving generators to Missouri.

The thefts were reported over the course of Saturday afternoon by M.J. Electric, 3415 Ohio Ave., St. Charles.

According to police, the company was preparing to send a crew to Missouri as part of flood cleanup operations there, and employees were gathering from the storage trailers some generators and other equipment that would be needed for the work. A manager told police the cargo trailers are used to store items that are not used on a regular basis but which were needed for the cleanup effort.

But employees began discovering that the locks on several trailers had been cut, and the hasps/handles had been bent and broken off on others. Once in the trailers, they realized the equipment they needed had been stolen.

The company discovered a section of chain-link fence that had been cut and pealed back, and according to the report, the fence cut was behind one of the burglarized trailers and concealed from the company’s surveillance cameras.

Four trailers were broken into, according to the report, and several generators and hydraulic press motors had been removed from three of them. The fourth trailer had had items removed and placed on the ground behind it, but apparently the burglars had left them.

The manager followed a trail from where the fence had been cut, and found it led to a parking lot at 3540 Stern Avenue, and discovered two more pieces of equipment.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident. No value for the stolen equipment was listed in the police report.