Why steal a truck full of broccoli?

12-29-2006 @1:52PM Word Diggity said... Because it was there? I dunno.

At least we can cross George H. W. Bush off the list of suspects.
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1-04-2007 @8:28PM Richard Landgraff said... Another veggie heist
Trailers filled with cookies, fungicide also disappear

By James Janega
Tribune staff reporter

January 3, 2007, 8:45 PM CST

Chicago police said Wednesday the phrase "crime doesn't pay" pretty much applied to thieves who hit a Bridgeport truck yard over New Year's weekend, only to score frozen veggies, a lot of cookies and two truckfuls of fungicide.

"We're speculating they went in there and took the first thing they found," said Wentworth Area Cmdr. Patricia Walsh. "They probably wanted TVs and gym shoes. But they got asparagus and cookies."

The frozen asparagus was especially disappointing. It was found abandoned Wednesday, melting under an Interstate Highway 57 viaduct in Dixmoor. Within hours, it was being processed as a crime scene.

What the thieves' weekend hit got them was 1,580 cartons of frozen vegetables in one truck (now recovered, but ruined), the two truckloads of fungicide and, 1,734 packets of mini chocolate chip cookies, 1,733 packets of mini chocolate cream sandwiches, and 1,733 packages of mini vanilla cream sandwiches in another truck.

"I don't know too many people who would want to pay too much for all those cookies," Walsh said. "Somebody would. But that's a lot of cookies."

Nationwide, cargo experts and the FBI estimate between $10 billion and $15 billion in cargo is stolen from U.S. truck lots, cargo docks and warehouses each year. Private investigators who hunt the stolen bounties say the average wholesale value of each truck is $130,000—though they are sold for far less. One truckload with a desirable inventory might sell to a middleman for $20,000. The stolen merchandise is then sold to shady or unsuspecting retailers.

Sometime over the weekend—exactly when isn't known yet—the thief or thieves cut a hole in a fence at the truck yard in the 1500 block of West 33rd Street and drove in with a truck cab. They hitched up to each trailer and made off with them, taking the vegetables, at least, to Dixmoor.

When truck lot employees noticed the hole in the fence, they did an inventory of the yard. On Monday, they reported the missing asparagus to Chicago police. On Tuesday, they reported three other trucks were missing.

Police found the asparagus Wednesday.

Last week, a refrigerated trailer with $50,000 worth of broccoli was reported stolen from the Odeum Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park. Chicago police do not believe the heists are related, but had not ruled it out late Wednesday.

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1-04-2007 @8:43PM Wendy said... My golden retriever's favorite food is broccoli. I could picture her stealing a truckful!
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1-04-2007 @8:53PM r said... They want the truck...
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1-04-2007 @9:05PM Jim Davis said... A local culprit in the community took the initive to hijack a semi loaded with coffee. Through his infinite wisdom, he began door to door pedaling coffee get this in the same neighborhood in which he high-jacked the truck!! Needless to say a while later he spent five years in the pooky drinking coffee and contemplating his actions........good to the last drop!!!!!!!!!
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1-04-2007 @9:24PM bill said... they must have thought it was full of illeagal aliens
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1-04-2007 @9:27PM Craig Mason said... You may want to check the South Carolina coast where, some three years ago, a shipping container of frozen chicken wings were heisted from the Port of Charleston. That trailer was later found in a gentleman's backyard, where he was trying to sell them off before they thawed. ****True Story****
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1-04-2007 @9:41PM cancan said... i think saddem hassen took it .
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1-04-2007 @9:53PM cancan said... i think saddem haeeen took it
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1-04-2007 @11:13PM Jay Lundenburg said... For those in law enforcement, it is obvious there was possibly a drug load among the broccoli. The end recipients did not want to wait for the delivery and high jacked the truck instead. I wonder if the load originated in Mexico or somewhere along the Mexican border?
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1-04-2007 @9:58PM Moose said... Well, would they also be interested in a truckload of E. coli-tainted spinach, lettuce, or scallions? I hear folks in NJ are running a special....
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1-04-2007 @10:00PM cancan said... i do think the whole family of saddem had something to do with it , after all he was found living in a cave only with a snicker bar, veggie would be good
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1-04-2007 @10:17PM nik nik said... how big of a loser do you have to be to want frozen food, vegtables, and cookies. i am sure the local welfare office will give you food stamps to buy those things and if its money you want sell the food stamps. America these days is getting a little too greedy for their own good
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1-04-2007 @10:20PM Josie said... You never know, it could have been someone's New Year's Resolution, to steal a truck full of veggies.
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1-04-2007 @11:05PM COLD said... Hey America! You can't blame this on the mexican farm workers like you do ever time something goes wrong with the food supply.
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1-04-2007 @10:27PM jonell said... lets hope all the poor kids in the hood at their veggies that night!
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1-04-2007 @10:48PM SlimBob said... The truck and trailer itself, or, at least as likely, punishment to company for something.
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1-04-2007 @11:27PM dixie said... I am convinced it is the Mexican farm workers that are behind these thefts. They were probably hoping for a load of chili peppers, cilantro, avocados, etc. There are many Mexican food places that would gladly buy it for a discount. They would also like it better because maybe it isn't tainted like so much of their produce is with e-coli. A problem that simple handwashing might fix
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1-04-2007 @11:30PM book said... I HOPE THEY ALSO GOT A LOAD OF BEANO TO HELP WITH THE GAS
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