Crime Prevention Program Recovers Truck for JF Shea Construction

The following information was provided by Gabe Marquez of the Southern California Crime Prevention Program.

On the morning of October 14th, the Crime Prevention Program received a call from JF Shea Construction, a CPP member. The call was regarding the theft of a 2007 KW water truck in Pico Rivera which occurred sometime during the night. The truck was not GPS or LoJack equipped and I was thinking this truck could be at the border, getting ready to be shipped at the port or on a lowboy to somewhere. Before the day was over, a stolen bulletin was created with a picture of a very similar truck in the JF Shea fleet. This bulletin was sent to over two hundred law enforcement e-mail contacts and to the CPP members. 

So I started making some calls. I called my contact at the Otay Mesa border facility and made sure U.S. Customs had the information in case the VIN on the truck was pre-screened for export so it could be quickly driven across the border. I also called and e-mailed PACCAR (the parent corp. for Kenworth) and gave them the VIN just in case future repair work would be done at a KW facility. Stranger things have happened.

The next day was a very busy day. It was made busier when I got a call from the CEO of Mike Bubalo Construction, Dave Sorem. Dave told me he saw the JF Shea truck from the theft bulletin in Rosemead the day before. Dave was out looking at a job bid. He added he didn’t know if the truck was still there and gave me the address. I called one of my many contacts at the LA County Vehicle Theft Task Force, TRAP, and gave him the details asking him to go out to the address and see if the truck was still there. I also called the JF Shea job site manager in Pico Rivera with the possible good news. I asked him to not make contact with the truck if he saw it and wait for the responding TRAP detective.

About an hour in a half after Dave called me, the JF Shea truck was back at the Pico Rivera job site with a slightly damaged ignition and no towing bill. The handling detective was able to recover some potential DNA evidence before the truck was released at the scene and hopefully an arrest will be made. The Crime Prevention Program has had many success stories and this is just the latest.

This is what the Crime Prevention Program does: It puts your company in the best possible position to get your equipment from getting stolen and if it is stolen, to get it back. If you were ever thinking what the Crime Prevention Program can do for you, this is a good example. Please give us a call at 562-860-9006 to sign up and do more than just talk about crime prevention.