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Thieves making profits off trailers' scrap metal

BY JOHN D. HOMAN, THE SOUTHERN

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:18 AM CDT

WILLIAMSON COUNTY - Stripping of metal from vacant trailers at Crab Orchard Estates - about three miles west of Carterville - has been occurring with greater frequency. Thieves are selling the scrap metal, police say.

An employee of Gary's Metals in Carterville said the business pays 65 cents a pound for sheet metal.

Robert Knope, representing Miller Realty Property Management in Carbondale and Carterville, told Williamson County Sheriff's Department deputies in a report filed June 20 that three different trailers had several large pieces of siding stripped and stolen from them.

Knope said the siding was intact as of June 18 but was missing two days later when he drove by the properties on Ventura Road. Knope said the aluminum siding was white and was valued at $5,500.

Greg Herrin, who resides on the 700 block of San Francisco Road at Crab Orchard Estates, said trailers have been stripped over the past several months.

"People are just grabbing the siding and ripping it off as quick as they can," Herrin said. "I've seen three women in a van come by here more than once. They say they have permission to remove the siding, but when I said I didn't believe them, they took off."

Herrin said what concerns him is the loose insulation that has blown onto his property and others' properties.

"I think it could be a health hazard," Herrin said. "And it most certainly lowers our property values to see what all has happened to these trailers."

John Rottman, supervising sanitarian with Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department in Marion, said an investigator had visited the site and reported the loose insulation was more of a nuisance to neighbors than a health risk.

"Some of the trailers are being torn down at the request of the owners of the property," Rottman said. "We asked them to get control of the situation - put the insulation and other debris in a dumpster or take it to the landfill but to dispose of it properly."

Mike Ruffley, assistant state's attorney for Williamson County, said he, too, has witnessed what he believes to be theft of property while jogging at Crab Orchard Estates, where he lives.

Ruffley said scrap metal yards are not required to keep records of their purchases, which makes it more difficult for law enforcement officials to track a crime that may have been committed.

Williamson County Sheriff Tom Cundiff said some workers have been given permission from the property owners to tear down dilapidated trailers but others have not.

"The problem is finding the victim. Until recently, we hadn't really had many complaints," Cundiff said. "And that's because the land's worth more to the property owner than the trailer itself."

Cundiff said his officers would be keeping a closer eye on the properties at Crab Orchard Estates.

john.homan@thesouthern.com

351-5805