$25K in equipment stolen from rental store

Early Thursday morning Aaction Rents in Healdsburg was broken
into and more than $25,000 in construction equipment was stolen in
less than 15 minutes.
Store manager Colin Grill said he suspects the robbers are part
of an organized crime ring and that it would take multiple people
to take the quantity of equipment they got away with.
“Rental companies get targeted because of the high dollar
merchandise inside,” Grill said. “Crime rings will go through an
area” and hit multiple stores in the same night or week, he
said.
The alarm at Aaction Rents went off at 1:30 a.m. Thursday
morning and by the time police arrived 13 minutes later, the
merchandise and the thieves were gone.
“We’re a contractor rental company so they stole electric
jackhammers, laser levels, nail guns, compaction pieces, hedge
trimmers” and other equipment, he said.
The glass front door was smashed and deterrent bars were broken
at the Healdsburg store.
According to Grill, on the same night, rental companies in
Burlingame and Richmond were also broken into.
“There’s actually been a whole string of construction related
thefts in the area,” Grill said.
Since rental companies are often targeted, they have formed a
network and store owners alert each other when one is hit.
The Richmond location that was burglarized on the same night got
video surveillance footage of a two-tone Eddie Bauer Ford
Expedition driving back and forth in front of the store just hours
before it was broken into.
Grill said he’ll watch Craigslist and other sites to make sure
none of his merchandise appears online for sale.
“We’ll monitor it, but they’re generally never going to sell in
your area,” he said.