BELLEVILLE, Ill. – An excavator stolen from a job site in Belleville was recovered near a cornfield in St. Clair County Wednesday afternoon. Members of the Metro East Auto Theft Task Force helped return the equipment to its owner thanks to a tip generated through social media.
“This was a brand-new machine,” Henry Rohwedder, owner of Hank’s Excavating and Landscaping, said.
The excavator, worth more than $100,000, appeared to be in working order Wednesday. Rohwedder said the recovery came just in time, as he needs the excavator to complete a current project.
“It shows how well everybody working together can solve these things,” Lt. Thomes Peters, task force director, said.
During the last fiscal year, Metro East Auto Theft reported recovering 649 vehicles, which added up to a recovery value of $9,970,757. During the same period, 223 arrests were made, and 195 suspects were charged.
The task force serves Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair Counties. Funding comes from insurance companies that are required under Illinois law to pay into a fund. The fund is administered by the Secretary of State’s office, through the Illinois Vehicle Hijacking and Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Council.
Lt. James Hendricks with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office said the recoveries are also a way to help keep insurance premiums from rising. Some also lead to the recovery of other stolen property.
“It keeps those sometimes stolen vehicles from being used in other crimes,” Hendricks said.
