KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. — Less than three months in their new store’s location, Mark Fort and Neal Hall came in one Monday morning to face an unpleasant and different kind of work: Cataloguing stolen inventory.<br>
Sometime between 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 and approximately 7 a.m., Monday, Feb. 4, Fort’s and Hall’s Knightstown business – Hoosier Outdoor Power and Farm Supply, Inc. – was burgled of more than $40,000 in equipment, vehicles, tools and clothing.<br>
That’s all the owners were able to tally in four days following discovery of the crime, knowing that didn’t yet include some of the large equipment, apparel and tools.<br>
It isn’t often a publication can run both a new-business feature (see related article on page 2B) and news of that store’s burglary in the same issue, nor such recent photos showing how the small showroom looked when fully stocked.<br>
Among the large equipment taken were three EverRide zero-turn mowers, one Bush Hog zero-turn mower, a Bush Hog Trail Hand 4WD utility vehicle, a Bush Hog 175cc four-wheeler and a Wallenstein 5,000-watt generator.<br>
Smaller items include Kawasaki weed eaters and leaf blowers, several toy tractors, cans of John Deere paint, Interstate vehicle batteries, an 88-gallon air compressor, five boxes of Key brand coats, insulated vests and bib overalls, jeans and denim bib overalls and numerous Echo brand leaf blowers, weed eaters, chainsaws and hedge trimmers.<br>
“I can’t tell you the number” of Echo products taken, Fort explained. “I haven’t got (cataloguing) done yet.”<br>
Hindering the owners’ list-making is the theft of their computer, which contained records and product information. Though they were able to give the Henry County Sheriff’s Department (HCSD) serial numbers for some large equipment, he said trying to list smaller items – including hand tools he and Hall used in their work – “is a freakin’ nightmare.”<br>
Damage to the store was minimal, including a torn-up safe and a missing cash register drawer containing some cash. “They weren’t malicious that way,” Hall explained, adding someone with a neighboring business told him they had found what appeared to be pry-marks on a piece of their equipment, though nothing had been stolen.<br>
The thieves did not take any of the Kioti front-loaders left displayed outside the store, nor did they remove any of the hay bales stacked in the adjoining bay.<br>
“The idea that we can’t do things (we normally do) day-to-day, that’s what hurts us now,” Hall said of the loss of personal tools and the computer. “That’s what insurance can’t give you back.”<br>
Asked if they have any leads, Hall said, “We’re trying to think of people we didn’t know” who came in shortly before the weekend.
HCSD Detective Stacey Guffey said the investigation is ongoing and he couldn’t provide any specifics beyond the fact evidence was left at the site. He said other than small thefts here and there of individually-owned mowers or other equipment, no theft on this scale has occurred in Henry County recently.<br>
“I mean, just a mass amount of items (were) removed and taken” from Hoosier Outdoor, he said. “We haven’t had anything (else) of this large amount yet.”<br>
Guffey said the items could be resold at flea markets or even through online auction sites such as eBay. Hall, who worked in equipment sales for 15 years before this business venture, said in his experience a lot of large stolen equipment is sold overseas.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Guffey at 765-529-4901, through the HCSD Dispatch. He said the case may be shared with Crime Stoppers as well, which could offer a reward for information.