ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Nearly $20,000 worth of equipment was stolen over the weekend from a construction site in St. Johns County, deputies said.
According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, sometime between early Friday evening and Monday morning, equipment owned by three different companies was taken from the site at International Golf Parkway and Commerce Lake Drive.
The owner of one of the three companies told News4Jax that all of the equipment was stored properly, locked up and chained down, but that didn't stop thieves from cutting chains and taking off with the construction equipment.
On Wednesday, work continued at what will eventually be a self-storage facility in the World Golf Village area. Some of the doors and windows in the building still need to be installed.
But on Monday morning, when crews returned to work, thousands of dollars' worth of equipment was gone.
"Some of these companies leave that equipment behind so they can get a fresh start early the next day, which creates complications when someone comes through who decides they want to free them of their property," said Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan of the Sheriff's Office.
Last month, Mulligan said, there were four other construction site burglaries in the county and, in all of them, tools were stolen. In the past, appliances have been stolen from many homes under construction.
"What we find many times is that these individuals will attempt to sell this equipment to other individuals in the same business line, maybe two or three counties away, who don’t understand that it is stolen. We will see it go to pawn shops," Mulligan said.
A floor grinder estimated to be worth $9,800; a Burnisher, used to polish floors, worth $4,635 and eight heavy-duty 100-foot extension cords worth $640 were among the items reported stolen over the weekend.
The Sheriff's Office said it is reviewing surveillance video from the area to see whether it captured the thieves at the site.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 904-824-8304.