The crime has the markings of “Sopranos” subplot.
Shady character calls hapless New York City tow truck operator. Tells him to drive up to Seymour, there’s a piece of heavy machinery that needs to be picked up. Worth $100,000. Drop it off at this address in Ozone Park. Don’t ask any questions.
Shady character left out the fact the machine was owned by the Seymour Department of Public Works.
Sound far fetched?
Perhaps, but it’s a scenario Seymour detectives have pieced together in their investigation into the theft of a $100,000 tub grinder from the DPW yard on Seymour Avenue.
Thanks to local police working in conjunction with the Statewide Auto Theft Task Force and the New York State Police Auto Theft Task Force, the tub grinder was returned Tuesday night to DPW director Dennis Rozum.
Who returned it? The same tow truck company who “stole” it, naturally.
The tub grinder — a mammoth machine used to grind tree branches into mulch at the town’s transfer station — was found on a street in Ozone Park, Queens, according to information provided by police spokesman Lt. Paul Satkowski. It was stolen from DPW Saturday, Feb. 26.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from the DPW yard and were able to get a potential make and model of the tow truck seen towing the grinder away Feb. 26.
Step number one was to figure out who owned the tow truck.
Detectives cast a long net, first by talking to a company that manufactures tow trucks. From there, they were able to find a tow-truck dealer in New York City. At the same time, detectives put messages on a website used by tow truck drivers.
Using information from all those sources, Seymour detectives were able to figure out who owned the tow. That name was not released Thursday.
Detectives traveled to the city for a face-to-face chat with the owner.
The owner gave police paperwork explaining that “arrangements were made” to tow the grinder from Seymour to the city.
Police said they are still investigating who placed the order.
The tow truck operator was told to leave the grinder on the street in Ozone Park.
“He told them he could show them where he left it,” Satkowski said.
So he did.
Surprisingly, the mega-machine was still there — 18 days after it was towed away from Seymour.
“There was no damage to it and nothing appeared to be tampered with or missing,” Satkowski said.
Police did not charge the tow truck driver and do not believe he was “in” on the crime.
He towed it back to the Seymour DPW yard Thursday — at a slightly discounted rate.
Satkowski said the DPW theft is linked, 100 percent, to the theft of an expensive Trammel screener from Vermeer Northeast, just down the road from the DPW yard.
The same scenario applied for that theft — however, when the tow truck owner led police to the spot where the machine was dropped off, it wasn’t there, Satkowski said.
The investigation continues.
