Oct 6, 2010 3 min read

By TIFFANY REPECKI
trepecki@breezenewspapers.com
A Cape Coral construction site was burglarized Sunday and an estimated $40,000 worth of items were stolen from 10 companies, according to police reports.
On Monday, police responded to 2499 Diplomat Parkway E., which is the site of the future veterans hospital. Bob Neurock, of Kraft Construction, told the officers that between 3 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, a group of men entered the site and removed an unknown amount of tools and building materials.
The reports state that early estimates from the 10 companies hit are upward of $40,000. They are Conshor, Precon, B&I Contractors, B&I Sheet Metal, Brockmeyer, Quinco Electrical, Swiss Log, Wall Systems, Regal Electric and Makro Corp. They all need to conduct an inventory of what was missing.
According to the reports, there is video showing two or three men entering the site and an SUV pulling up to the front gate area with a man driving it. All the companies had locked trailers and large industrial tool boxes on site that were cut open.
Some items reported stolen were various saws, various drills and bits, various hammers, nail guns, grinders, hand tools, a laser, laser levels, air compressors, battery chargers, a pressure washer, a garden hose and copper wire.
David Dese, president of Quinco Electrical, said the company had about $2,500 worth of items stolen. The majority of the missing items were his employees’ personal tools that they had in a trailer on site that was hit.
“We didn’t have much stolen” he said. “Our portion is not that high.”
Dese said this is the second time in about four months that the job site has been burglarized. His company did not lose anything the first time around. He added that they could have lost more this time but the burglars did not break into trailers with security cameras, which the employee trailer did not have.
“It would be nice if they’d do something about it,” Dese said.
Rick Moore, president of Precon, called Sunday’s theft unfortunate.
“It’s not a good thing,” he said. “It’s a big site. It should be secure.”
According to Dese, construction site theft has been a large issue lately. His company has had about $600,000 in copper products stolen in the last year.
“This is a huge problem for job sites, especially with the economy today,” he said. “Everybody’s stealing copper, so it’s a big problem.”
Anyone with information about the theft can call the Cape Coral Police Department at 574-3223 or Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at (800) 780-TIPS (8477).