Calgary police recover $25K worth of tools stolen from construction sites

Recovered stolen tools

CALGARY — Calgary police is looking to return $25,000 worth of tools to their rightful owners.

The CPS announced Wednesday that they have filed charges in relation to a theft that took place April 28 at a southeast Calgary construction site. A contractor visited the site, located at the 600 block of Cranbrook Gardens S.E., where he discovered the locks to his storage locker had been cut, and all the tools inside removed.

When the contractor spoke to people in the neighbourhood, he discovered that a second contractor had experienced a theft as well.

That night, the contractor discovered some of his tools being advertised for sale online. After confirming that the tools were the same as his, he contacted police. They obtained a search warrant for a residence and vehicle at the 200 block of Douglas Circle S.E.

The search warrant led to the recovery of over 80 items, worth more than $25,000, including the property of the two contractors.

Police are trying to identify the owners of the rest of the tools, and ask that anyone else who has been a victim of a similar crime file a police report along with serial numbers and any other identifying marks.

Calgary resident Nicholas Burrows, 34, faces the following charges:

·         Mischief to stolen property under $5000;

·         Theft under $5000; and

·         Possession for the purpose of trafficking in stolen property

Police report that since January, there has been an increase in new home construction break and enters targeting construction materials.

"The thefts are takiing place primarily on the weekends, when the job sites are vacant," said Staff Sgt. Bruce Walker, in a release.  "We are working hard to address this trend and encouraging people to report suspicious activity or people at construction sites to police immediately."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 403-266-1234. Anonymous tipsters can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, online or by using the P3 Tips app available at Apple or the Google Play Store.