Pattern of stolen teardrops in 2015?

[S. Heisley]

It seems that there may be a pattern to what is being stolen from us. It appears that they are all manufactured teardrops and all stolen at night. Further, it is possible that they are stolen from places where they can easily be loaded onto a truck or taken to a ship to be sent to another country. Please remember also that decals are easily removed and that a plain teardrop is more difficult to recognize.

From what I surmise, people need to be extremely vigilant when parking a manufactured teardrop either in their driveway or on the street, especially at night.

Teardrop stolen at night on December 18, 2015, in Grand Junction, OR:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64948




Teardrop stolen at nighton October 14, 2015 in Burbank, CA:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64573




Teardrop stolen at night on July 27, 2015 in Missoula, MT:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=63954&p=1138426#p1138426

[GuitarPhotog]

None of them stolen from a campground. People worry more about campgrounds then their own driveway.

<Chas>

[Vedette]

There is usually someone sleeping in it, when it is in a campground! and there would be a lot of witnesses.
Merry Christmas Charlie
Brian & Sandi
PS
Sold my single keg (one tap) Beer dispenser yesterday, to an avid local Beer Maker I just met.

[GuitarPhotog]

There is usually someone sleeping in it, when it is in a campground! and there would be a lot of witnesses.
Merry Christmas Charlie
Brian & Sandi
PS
Sold my single keg (one tap) Beer dispenser yesterday, to an avid local Beer Maker I just met.

That's good because your government won't let me bring in kegs, so you can't use it for my beer ;-)

Have a Merry Christmas Brian & Sandi



<Chas>

[GPW]

Curious , probably because the manufactured ones have a known monetary value ... Easier to re-sell ..

[Cosmo]

Were any of them locked(hitch lock, wheel lock or any lock)?
Were any covered?

Cosmo

[deleted]

When the "Alaska Teardrop" trailer Fred sold to a friend was taken earlier this year it was locked with a hitch lock that was found cut on the ground of the apartment complex parking lot that he had just moved into. It has not been recovered.

[lrrowe]

My blood just boils when I see issues like this. Makes me for sure going to spend $$$ on good locks. I have a lot of sympathy for the owner.
For whatever it is worth, I will keep an eye open here in the East, but somehow I doubt if it will come this far.

[elcam84]

Unfortunately the trailers are so small and light that there is little you can do to keep them from being stolen. Hitch locks and wheel locks just keep the honest people honest. It's very easy to cut through them or bypass all together just chaining the trailer to the truck or roll the tear onto a flatbed and it's gone.
I do wonder where they are ending up though. Not easy to register but often no reason for them to do so as they can just swap plates with another trailer when they use it.

Have had trailers stolen from construction sites and other places and the thing I have learned is that if the trailer is left outside it's a big theft target and in many places it's just a matter of time before it's stolen. Unfortunate but that's how it is with any trailer.

[S. Heisley]

I don't know; but, I doubt any were left unlocked. If I remember correctly, one was stolen while it was hitched to the tow vehicle; so, both were taken. The last I knew, the tow vehicle had been recovered but the trailer had not been found. I guess they weren't after the tow vehicle. Remember the old saying: Locks are for honest people.

It seems that possibly the safest place for these little teardrops is either in a campground or in your garage.
With Internet connections abounding for thieves, the word can go out for something and other thieves just watch for an item that fits the bill and the opportunity to present itself. Those are my thoughts.

However, with over 20,000 members, somebody ought to see something, somewhere, sometime, and maybe we'll help catch a thief and find out more!

[lrrowe]

I wonder how many thieves, if any, peruse forums like this to search for opportunities? Probably not many.

[S. Heisley]

I wonder how many thieves, if any, peruse forums like this to search for opportunities? Probably not many.

No, our forum would probably be boring to them. But, I have heard that thieves have their own way of contacting each other, to find out what possible stolen objects have a market. When they see an opportunity parked somewhere, they are ready to pounce. Opportunity is most important and night time works very well for most. They don't care what they are taking so much as whether they can get it and turn it into cash fairly quickly.

[dales133]

I think you could be on the money with shipping overseas.
There were big problems years ago with trailer boats being stolen and shipped to the pacific islands from new zealand.
Its relitivly cheap to ship somethhing small overseas when its hard to identify annd it just vanishes withhout a trace

[GPW]

Thieves are predators and will steal anything attractive .... especially if left unprotected... Those who brought tools to cut any locks have planned this in advance (better thieves ) Anybody new working in your neighborhood lately ? ... Possibly a rudimentary alarm system would help ???
Still can’t get behind the idea that this is an organized effort to steal a certain kind of trailer (conspiracy) ... Most things are stolen at night ,cause’ it’s DARK eh !!! and you’re sleeping ...it’s unattended !!!

[Talia62]

You may not be able to prevent your trailer from being stolen, but you can sure as heck install a tiny hidden GPS tracker on it that will alert you by text, email, or phone call when it moves.