Crooks steal $100K in bronze from Port Townsend Foundry
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PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. -- Thieves made off with $100,000 worth of bronze from a small business in Port Townsend, leaving the business owner to wonder how he'll make ends meet.
Crooks steal $100K in bronze from Port Townsend Foundry
The shelves are empty inside the Port Townsend Foundry after crooks stole several hundred pounds of bronze boat parts from owner Pete Langley.
"Yeah, it's pretty devastating," Langley said.
Langley said each stolen piece was hand made over several months and individually customized for high-end clients.
"I've got boats sailing around the world with my stuff on it," he said.
His work has been used in numerous movies, including "Master and Commander" and in the latest James Bond movie.
"It's amazingly demoralizing for the employees because they've done all this hard work," he said.
Investigators say the thieves tried to break into the neighbor's business in the middle of the night, but got into the Port Townsend Foundry instead.
Once inside, the thieves spray painted the windows so nobody could see what they were doing. They left with hundreds of pounds of bronze, which they'll likely sell for scrap.
Langley said the criminals will only get a fraction of what the bronze is worth. He guesses they'll be able to sell it for $3,500.
Ed Neet runs a scrap yard and sees a lot of metal thieves. He said too many of his competitors refuse to call the police when they suspect someone of stealing metal, but said sometimes the crooks don't have enough metal to get in any real trouble.
"You can go identify the stuff in people's cars and it's not enough money's worth of material to prosecute them under a felony and make them serve real time," Neet said.
As for Langely, he said the recession hit him hard, but the thieves hit him even harder. He said he and his team will get back to work filling all those lost orders.
Langley said nearby surveillance footage shows a small pickup truck or white cargo van that might belong to the thieves. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the police.
Crooks steal $100K in bronze from Port Townsend Foundry
The shelves are empty inside the Port Townsend Foundry after crooks stole several hundred pounds of bronze boat parts from owner Pete Langley.
"Yeah, it's pretty devastating," Langley said.
Langley said each stolen piece was hand made over several months and individually customized for high-end clients.
"I've got boats sailing around the world with my stuff on it," he said.
His work has been used in numerous movies, including "Master and Commander" and in the latest James Bond movie.
"It's amazingly demoralizing for the employees because they've done all this hard work," he said.
Investigators say the thieves tried to break into the neighbor's business in the middle of the night, but got into the Port Townsend Foundry instead.
Once inside, the thieves spray painted the windows so nobody could see what they were doing. They left with hundreds of pounds of bronze, which they'll likely sell for scrap.
Langley said the criminals will only get a fraction of what the bronze is worth. He guesses they'll be able to sell it for $3,500.
Ed Neet runs a scrap yard and sees a lot of metal thieves. He said too many of his competitors refuse to call the police when they suspect someone of stealing metal, but said sometimes the crooks don't have enough metal to get in any real trouble.
"You can go identify the stuff in people's cars and it's not enough money's worth of material to prosecute them under a felony and make them serve real time," Neet said.
As for Langely, he said the recession hit him hard, but the thieves hit him even harder. He said he and his team will get back to work filling all those lost orders.
Langley said nearby surveillance footage shows a small pickup truck or white cargo van that might belong to the thieves. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the police.
I would love to see these meth-head thieves trying to melt down these pieces so they don't look super suspicious when trying to sell them for scrap. Dude's probably gonna get his stuff back, and some freaks are gonna end up in jail. God, can you imagine how much it would suck to be detoxing off meth while being sodomized by 'Bubba,' the alpha dog at Clallam County Correctional Facility?
Am....am I the only one that initially read it as "$100k in booze"?
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And the metal dealers don't want to be accountable on stolen metal, the state has no resources to address this, and the laws are stuck in the 1950's. Awesome.Â
@Citizen#3457899654 I submitted a proposal to the state legislature via my district representatives last year. It called for a waiting period, such as when you want to buy a handgun when someone attempts to sell scrap metal of any kind. During this time, the pending sale is reported and a check of the region is done via law enforcement to see if any metal theft matching the description of the metal attempting to be sold had been reported to law enforcement agencies. Also, state or federal issued ID check is done and ran through law enforcement agencies for check of any similar crimes in the past. As usual, my district representative whitewashed my proposal and said it was too late in the year and they were understaffed and blah blah. Meanwhile, as they headed towards a special session, they were unwilling or unable to accomplish any "real" legislation. No wonder they wouldnt address my proposal, probably because it didnt make any sense.
He should have had a surveillance system himself. Â A 4-camera DVR, alarm system and pistol together would run about 2% of what he lost.