An Ontario truck dealership is thinking of offering a cash reward after almost a dozen vehicles were stolen from various locations over the past five months. There have been 11 theft incidents at various locations since January.
Ryan Nelligan, general sales manager, Metro Truck Group, said that it may soon offer between $25,000 to $50,000 for information that leads to arrests and convictions.
Each truck costs about $250,000, so about $2.75 million in commercial vehicles have been stolen. “What would happen if a jewelry store was robbed of that amount? You’d be taking it quite seriously, wouldn’t you?” he said.
A dealership official posted a video on LinkedIn of a four-wheeler suspected of being involved in these incidents. “Please be on the lookout for the vehicle shown in this video. It has been involved in a string of commercial truck thefts over the past three months,” the post stated. It also provided make, model and licence plate information.
Nelligan said that a security guard employed by the dealership rammed the suspect’s vehicle with his four-wheeler at the Stoney Creek, Ont., location. The suspects drove off in the vehicle. He added that police said that the licence plate did not register as a stolen vehicle so there is a warrant out on the vehicle owner. “I can probably see that car’s chopped up, and I bet you the guy’s gone too,” Nelligan said.
TruckNews.com reached out to the Hamilton Police Service for comment but has not received a response.
The dealership official said that four vehicles have been recovered. Three customers’ trucks have been stolen and some of those recovered as well. Nelligan is feels whomever is behind these thefts has knowledge of the trucking industry.
Tracking system removed
The trucks are equipped with tracking systems and the thieves removed them. These are being left around Highway 410 and Courtneypark Drive in Mississauga, Ont. Nelligan suspects there is a warehouse or facility in the area where the stolen vehicles are being taken.
“They must be chopped up for parts, or being re-VINned under a different serial number,” he said.
Primarily, the thieves target new trucks, but they are not picky. Nelligan said that a couple of customers’ trucks in for service have also been stolen.
He feels they are keeping an eye on dealership locations. Some new trucks were delivered to a customer, and they were stolen from their yard that night.
Increased security
Metro Truck Group has beefed up security. It is paying extra for dedicated monitoring of security cameras. The dealership has also employed security guards at all locations every night. “We have been forced to spend an insane amount of money to combat these crimes,” Nelligan said.
As the crime spree continues, Nelligan has also reached out to Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, seeking his help.
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