Construction Site Thieves Hit New Homes

Posted by: Dennis Turner
Construction Thefts Hit New Homes

Olive Branch, Miss - As if Olive Branch Police didn't have enough work on their hands with a burglary ring, and the shooting of two officers, now there's a new, unusual set of thieves on the street. You've heard of car thieves stripping a car down to it's frame? In Olive Branch, they're stripping houses almost down to the four walls.Michael Harig has never seen anything like it in his 35 years as a builder. "Anything they can get away with. They break into the house, they stole appliances, air conditioning heating units light fixtures... carpet." said Harig. That's right, even the carpet. Thieves hit these homes in the Chicasaw Heights subdivision over the last week... taking everything but the kitchen sink... and sometimes even that. Here's the amazing thing about these thefts. It takes days to install these appliances and cir conditioning in a new home. These thives are managing to get away with their loot in a matter of hours. Behind them they leave cut pipes, dangling wires and a real mess. It's a problem Olive Branch detectives have tackled before. "We had this problem a while back. we had a rash of these burglaries where people were going in stealing appliances." "How'd you stop them?" "We ultimately got some good tips and good leads that we were able to get a tag number at that time and trace that back." said Maj. Don Gammage of the Olive Branch Police. And he's hoping for the same luck this time."If they're hitting one neighborhood, one subdivision, we don't know if they're coming to the other subdivision." he explained. And who pays for this loss... builders say we all do. "Ultimately the buyer, the homeowner. 'Cause Insurance rates go up, cost of quipment goes up, everything goes up." said Harig. Especially the price tag of the home.

WREG-TV Memphis - Construction Thefts Hit New Homes

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