RFPD recovers stolen semi

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 8, 2014

A semi-truck stolen from a River Falls gas station over the weekend has been found, but authorities are still on the lookout for both its trailer and its payload.

River Falls Chief of Police Greg Jackson said he found the stolen semi-truck after a phone tip led him to Super C Food Mart on U.S. 84 in Babbie, where it had been abandoned.

Jackson said the truck, which is locally owned and registered to the Birmingham-based company Blair Logistics, was stolen some time around midnight Saturday from the Gitty-Up-N-Go gas station in River Falls.

“It’s really strange,” Jackson said after discovering the truck. “I really didn’t expect to find it this close to where it was stolen.”

Jackson said, in cases where trucks are stolen for their payloads, they are often moved quickly into other states before being unloaded and/or stripped for parts.

Jackson said the trailer, as well as its payload – approximately $80,000 worth of aluminum coils that were likely the target of the theft – are still unaccounted for.

Anyone with any information about the theft, or the person or persons responsible, is asked to contact their local law enforcement agency.