Wellness Center theft totals $25,000

On July 7, 54 sheets of decorative aluminum  siding valued at $25,000 were reported missing from the Wellness and Recreation Center construction site, according to a Public Safety report. 

The decorative sheets were delivered on May 20, but were not reported missing for almost two months.

“It was dropped on the site from the vendor,” Detective Robert Butler said. “It came in on pallets and the company, 1st Choice Glass, had an enclosed trailer where they were storing all of their materials.”

The company, located near Charlotte, N.C., was in charge of ordering and installing the siding. The company is also responsible for all the glass used on the Wellness and Recreation Center.

According to Adam Tsiukes, one of the owners, the sheets were not discovered missing until they were ready to use them on-site.

Though the sheets come with a hefty price tag, the university is not responsible for replacing them – the vendor is held accountable.

First Choice Glass’s insurance has covered the sheets’ replacement, and they were picked up Tuesday, Aug. 23.

Butler believes that the sheets will have to be sold for scrap.

“Whoever stole it would have to sell it for scrap,” Butler said. “There is no other use for it because it is custom made and is a decorative piece that the architect requested in his final drawings.”

The prices for aluminum recyclable items were up at the time of the theft and the thieves could have easily made over $1,000 selling the custom-made sheeting for scrap.

The sheets weighted approximately 1,600 pounds and would have been difficult to transport.

“We think there is a possibility that they had folded them (the sheets) in half and then loaded them into the back of a pickup truck,” Butler said.

Half of the 54 sheets were approximately 14-feet-long while the other half were approximately 17-feet-long.

Butler has a list of possible suspects.

“They are from out of state… but we have not been able to develop these leads at this point to tie them back to the theft,” Butler said.

Butler says that this is partly because they do not know the exact date the theft occurred and the search is so broad.

“I am about 95 percent sure it went to a scrap yard, but which one did it go to?” Butler said.

Just one city in the investigation had 12 recycling centers in its bounds.

According to an Ace Recycling representative, located on S. Jefferson Street, anyone trying to recycle any aluminum, besides aluminum cans, has to leave a copy of his ID, to better assure that stolen items do not make it in.

Baker says the aluminum did not go to a recycling plant in the Milledgeville area.

“We don’t know where the pieces are, but we know that they didn’t go to any recycling places in the Milledgeville area.”

The search for the aluminum decorative siding has branched out to surrounding states.

Surveillance at the construction site was present, but the tapes are only accessible for a certain period of time, before they are taped over.

“If it would have been reported within a month of it being stolen they would have had the theft on surveillance,” Butler said. “The Village has adequate video surveillance. We have actually learned from over the years that every time we have a construction site that we like to have some type of surveillance set up. And we even had cameras moved to the area of the construction site just for this reason. Just in case something came up missing.”

If the suspects are located, they could be facing felony theft charges and possibly be forced to pay restitution.

If you have any information about the theft please contact Public Safety at: (478) 445-4054

Posted by Bobbi Otis on Aug 25 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.