A thief breaks into a heating and electric work van and gets away with $10,000 in tools in less than a minute.
Parker Police are investigating six work van break-ins between Nov. 17 and Dec. 24, including the one caught on camera at Pine Valley Electric.
"I'm thinking that they probably pawned it for less than $1,000, but I'm guessing," said owner Kevin Behrends. "The tools cost $10,000 to replace."
How the thief got into Behrends' back lot is a fluke. His snow removal service forgot to close the gate after plowing on Nov. 17.
"Mistakes happen and I just, kind of, let it go," said Behrends. "He drove back around, came became the two buildings, stopped, took his license plate off, put it in the cab and then drove around the back here."
He said the thief got away with cordless power tools, a ramset to shoot wire into steel and concrete and hammer drills.
"Businesses always take the hit for this type of thing," said Behrends. "We do not turn these types of things into insurance companies because our rates just increase."
Parker Police are investigating six total break-ins, including work vans parked at apartment complexes. In two of the break-ins, there weren't any tools inside of the van to steal. Police told Denver7 that no pawn shops had notified them of any suspicious tools.