RUSHVILLE, Ind.  – Residents and even businesses love being located in the rural sector because it’s a way of getting away from the multitude of people and traffic congestion. But make no mistake about it, there’s one thing that will follow you to these outskirts – crime.

Dave Matney, CEO at Matney Agri-Products in Rushville, recently became a victim of an agriculture-related theft. Despite being located just three miles from the heart of Rushville, thieves entered one of the buildings onsite and stole a one-ton dually truck, a forklift, and two wooded crates containing material needed to erect a 36-foot-by-100-foot canvas building.

The truck was recovered the next day; however the thieves had stripped the truck of its catalytic converters.

“It’s been estimated that we lost up to $20,000 with this theft,” said Matney, whose business was targeted April 29. “We’re told that it is a grand theft felony type of robbery. Add to that breaking, entering and a few more violations.”

Matney was in Florida at the time of the theft. Those back at the business notified him of the theft on April 30.

The one-ton dually truck was already loaded with a pair of extremely heavy, 10-foot-by-3-foot boxes that contained the folded canvas building. A large, gray tarp stretched over all the box, ready for delivery to a customer.

“We had just received a large assembly load of equipment just days before this happened so the thieves knew what they were doing,” Matney said. “They knew the weight of the equipment required the use of a forklift to get it off that one-ton truck.”

Local law enforcement agreed.

“Whoever stole the equipment is familiar with the use of heavy equipment and how it works,” said Rush County Deputy Shawn Smallwood. “The stolen property is too heavy for, say, four guys to lift it off the truck. It took a lot of effort to move it from the stolen truck.”

Rushville Police recovered the stolen truck on April 30, just one-half mile from the business. 

“Hard to believe, but the truck was just found walking distance from our business,” Matney said. “The thieves off-loaded the equipment and needed big equipment to unload it. At some point in time they had to use another forklift or crane to move it. Or, perhaps they used a chain to drag it off the truck onto another vehicle.”

According to Matney, the truck odometer turned just 20 miles during that overnight heist.

Fabric buildings are not cheap. Generally, a pre-engineered fabric structure can start from $25 per square foot. Matney Agri-Products sells hoop and canvas buildings, ranging in size from 22 to 160 feet in width.

“We sell a lot of these hoop buildings, semi loads of them, all around the area and into five states,” Matney said.

Matney had security cameras along the edge of the business property, but none inside the barns.

“We advise farmers in our county to put up some type of surveillance on their property,” Smallwood said.

“Farm theft is not real prevalent here in Rush County,” Smallwood said. “Farm theft does occur here, but it’s not a common occurrence. What is common are thieves taking smaller items that they can scrap and get quick cash, and a lot of this kind of theft is tied in with drugs.”

A reward is being offered to anyone with information leading to the arrest of those involved as well as return of the stolen property.

Anyone with information can call the Rush County Sheriff’s Department at 765-932-2931.