HIGH RIDGE, Mo. — A Jefferson County business owner is out thousands of dollars worth of equipment after thieves stole it last week.
Dalton Lay received a phone call Friday morning stating that his business, Dalton's Lawn & Landscaping in High Ridge, had been robbed.
"Someone had broken in and stolen our brand new dump truck, which we purchased a month ago but required a fair bit of repairs. It was out at the mechanic shop getting that done and had been back at our shop for about 24 hours," Dalton said.
The dump truck had been fixed just a day before and was about to be licensed when it was stolen.
Late Monday afternoon, a spokesperson from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office told 5 On Your Side the dump truck had been found in St. Louis County.
But that wasn't all that was taken.
"We had discovered that they had also broken into our storage trailer and cleared out pretty much every piece of power equipment we own, including all of our backpack blowers, trimmers, chainsaws you name it," Dalton said.
Dalton noticed footprints in the dirt and believes the people responsible entered up the hill and around a fence on the very edge of the property.
The dump truck and power equipment total close to $25,000 in losses.
As the thieves were escaping, they caused even more damage.
"They busted through our front gate, destroying that, and took out the fire hydrant in the process as well," he said.
Dalton believes he was targeted.
"It had just been at the shop, and I was like, why wouldn't they have taken it when it was sitting there a week or two prior? I'm really just confused and then outraged that it was fully repaired, ready for operation and no one had an opportunity to drive it yet," he said.
Investigators say they have no information about arrests or the other equipment that was stolen.
"It's very upsetting, but I'm using it as a lesson learned to prioritize security as the absolute number one across the board," he said.
He said he wished he had security cameras in place.
"Unfortunately, there were no cameras. But definitely changing that now. My focus is on trying to increase our security as a whole," he said.
Dalton said he's out of the landscaping business until those items are returned or he can buy them again.