SC ranks high in heavy equipment thefts

South Carolina is ranked as one of the top 10 states in the nation for the number of reported heavy equipment thefts, according to the S.C. Insurance News Service.

Information from the National Crime Information Center and other national crime reporting agencies rank South Carolina seventh in the nation for heavy equipment theft.

Most of the population doesn’t own heavy construction materials, but the theft of such equipment puts a strain on everyone, S.C. Insurance News Service CEO Allison Dean Love said.

A report released in October by the National Equipment Register and the National Insurance Crime Bureau shows there are significant indirect costs related to equipment theft. Missing equipment can delay contractors in completing critical infrastructure projects, which can lead to delayed building occupancy.

Jerry O’Neal, general manager of Industrial Paving Co. in Darlington, said his firm experienced the peril of heavy equipment theft last fall when it was hired to do critical work on the construction of a First Bank branch in Florence.

O’Neal said he was incensed when his workers arrived on the job site and found someone had stolen a $40,000 backhoe.

The two-ton backhoe was parked in a vacant lot off Pamplico Highway, O’Neal said. A year later, the backhoe is still missing.

O’Neal said he thinks someone hauled the New Holland 555 E backhoe away on the back of a trailer.

If the business replaced the missing equipment, it would cost about $75,000, he said. The company had insurance on the backhoe, but it wasn’t enough to replace the machinery.

“It kind of cripples us. Now we’re down ... to one backhoe when we’re used to having two,” O’Neal said. “We got people calling, wanting us to get work done, and we can’t do it. We can’t go get another site started because we don’t have the equipment unless we rent it.”

The company had insurance on the backhoe, but it wasn’t enough to replace the machinery.

Just two weeks before it was stolen, O’Neal paid more than $5,000 to have the backhoe repaired. He said he had to use some of the insurance money to pay the repair bill.

“We have not replaced that backhoe. We need to replace it, but with times being so tough, that is not the best financial thing to do,” he said. “It was a big hurt to us.”

In 2008, only 21 percent of heavy equipment stolen in the United States was recovered, compared with a 57 percent recovery rate for vehicles.

Recently, more than 31 pieces of stolen equipment were recovered by Pee Dee and Grand Strand law enforcement officers. The State Law Enforcement Division led a multi-agency equipment investigation that included the Dillon and Marion county sheriff’s offices.

Dillon County Sheriff’s Capt. Cliff Arnette, who worked on the investigation, said it is an extreme challenge to recover heavy equipment.That’s because the equipment is stolen and often transported across county and state lines.

This makes it important for law enforcement to exchange information and work together on such cases, Arnette said.

It would help investigators and sheriff’s deputies if owners would place global positioning system (GPS) devices on their equipment, he said.

“That would be helpful but it isn’t very cost-efficient,” Arnette said. “It’s a big help if they have the VIN (vehicle identification number), serial numbers and make and model handy if the equipment is stolen.”