Mark R. Taylor Take no prisoners! http://americantruckersatwar.com AmericanTruckersAtWar Discussion Group http://youtube.com/ironponyexpress American Truckers At War Take no prisoners! http://americantruckersatwar.com/ http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-cargothefts_23met.ART.State.Edition2.26abc3f.html North Texas a hot spot in nationwide cargo thefts 12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News [EMAIL PROTECTED] While Wall Street is tanking, another market is booming. Authorities say nationwide losses from cargo thefts, largely truck heists, have reached at least $15 billion annually. JIM MAHONEY/DMNJesse Minton of the Tarrant Regional Auto Crimes Task Force says this chopped sleeper cab was found inside a stolen semi. And North Texas is one of the hot spots. "People don't realize how big it is," said J.J. Coughlin, a former Dallas police officer who chairs the Southwest Transportation Security Council. "It's kind of a silent crime. It's not romantic and exciting. Bonnie and Clyde don't do it, but crooks have figured out if they can steal one tractor trailer with the right load, it's worth millions." Silent, perhaps, but daring and sometimes sophisticated. In addition to local bandits, there are carpetbagger thieves. Authorities say Florida-based Cuban gangs have an affinity for cargo loads from the Alliance Corridor in Tarrant County. Their stolen goods have shown up as far away as Central America. These gangs identify what they want to steal and then methodically set out to do it. They are smart, patient and tough to catch, authorities say. "They will go all across the country to steal cargo," said Lt. Twan Uptgrow, commander of the Miami-Dade Police Department's anti-cargo theft task force. "They have taken just about everything you can name." The gangs typically fly in, rent a car and head to an area flush with distribution centers. "They'll watch how the operation works," Lt. Uptgrow said. "The minute that load is vulnerable, they'll take it." Federal and local authorities haven't tracked the exact number of cargo thefts, but the FBI estimates that such heists cost $15 billion to $30 billion annually. Congress passed a law requiring the FBI to begin collecting the data, but it hasn't yet. Many of the thieves were once truck drivers and know the industry. They can swiftly move goods, some of which don't have serial numbers, from one location to another. Goods that do have identifying numbers can often be sold on the black market before authorities are notified. The stolen cargo can be quite profitable. "The thieves can make 10 cents on the dollar, and even if they get caught, they'll spend a few months in jail" or get probation, said Mr. Coughlin. Fences, in turn, can sell the pilfered cargo for about 50 cents on the dollar. Most of the stolen cargo is "hitting the streets immediately," said Detective Jesse Minton of the Tarrant Regional Auto Crimes Task Force. Authorities say figuring out where the property ends up is next to impossible, but stolen goods have been found on eBay, in mom-and-pop stores and in discount outlets. The Cuban thieves rarely get caught. But even when they do, the punishment is often light. In May 2007, Carlos Alarosa, a Cuba native, stole nearly 2,800 Tom Tom global positioning units and an 18-wheeler worth $842,000 in Dallas, authorities said. Police quickly caught him in Mesquite with the stolen load. Five months later, he received five years of deferred adjudication, meaning the offense won't count on his criminal history if he successfully completes probation. Authorities say local thieves work all over North Texas and as far away as Ardmore, Okla. "They're [often] going around and stealing the stuff outside of the city and bringing the stuff back here," said Detective David Wallace, who handles cargo-related theft for the Dallas police. That's exactly what happened with some Ardmore cargo thefts. Thieves who recently hit distribution centers in that city were netting about $40,000 for each load. In a June theft, they took a trailer containing $400,000 worth of plasma TVs from a Best Buy warehouse. The truck and trailer were quickly recovered in Dallas. The TVs were gone. About two months later, thieves took a load of electronics from a Circuit City distribution center. Authorities recovered most of that load when a patrol officer spotted the stolen trailer in a field. Police say Billy Perkins of Dallas was the ringleader. The 23-year-old was arrested Friday and remains in the Dallas County Jail pending transfer to face charges in Oklahoma. Deputy Chief Jerry Vennum of the Dalworthington Gardens police knows how hard it is to track such crimes. In 2004, a friend wanted him to participate in buying some leaf blowers. "He could get a better unit price if he bought more of them," Chief Vennum said. He said they checked the blowers' serial numbers and found that none had been reported stolen. But they had been, along with an entire 18-wheeler. Within days of the Dallas heist, an insurance investigator determined that the blowers had been sold to Chief Vennum and his unwitting friends, posted for sale on eBay and hit the shelves of an Arlington electronics discount store. Chief Vennum's friend told authorities that he bought the blowers from a man who'd previously sold him hundreds of cases of electric toothbrushes. Police found that the toothbrushes were also hot. The blowers the chief bought were returned to their rightful owner. 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