Posted on 05/21/2007 9:50:09 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A tractor-trailer that was stolen while the driver took a break has been recovered, but authorities were still searching Monday for the five tons of fertilizer it was carrying.
Sheriff's deputies recovered the empty big-rig just before midnight Sunday, less than 12 hours after it was taken from a stretch of road used as a popular rest stop for truckers.
The driver had parked in the industrial area near Griffith Park Sunday afternoon. When he returned about five hours later, the truck was gone, said Lt. David Young of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division. The truck turned up about 20 miles away in Carson.
The theft raised concerns because certain types of fertilizer can be used to make explosives.
Officer Martha Garcia, a police department spokeswoman, said investigators believe the missing fertilizer does not contain anything that could be used to make an explosive, but they were taking precautions
"Because of the contents we are treating it with extra sensitivity," Young said.
Authorities described the fertilizer as commercial merchandise, packaged in sacks, for shipment to a Home Depot in Tracy, Calif. The truck was coming from Texas.
"It's being considered as a plain theft. It's being handled by the commercial crimes division," Garcia said.
Timothy McVeigh combined 5,000 pounds of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate with auto-racing fuel to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast killed 168 people.
I’m sure it was just formerly illegal alien landscapers.
No concerns here, we’ll just vote them amnesty for stealing trucks.
OH LOOK IT'S PARIS HILTON NUDE!
First find out why the trucker stopped for 5 hrs. at a rest stop.
You cant make any money when the rig aint moving, it doesnt take 5 hrs to eat, or eat and shower, and shave.
If I hired this guy , thats what I would be wondering.
Four hour rest break is mandatory, isn’t it?
You mean Al Bore regurgitated in the back of a truck and now it’s missing?
The current version is that it was "shop vacs" that were stolen, not fertilizer.
Maybe, maybe not.
14 on duty. 10 off duty in 24.
Some potheads looking for some Miracle-Gro?............
Gee, would it be asking too much for the “professional” journalists at AP to tell us if it was ammonium nitrate or not ? It is sort of incidental to the story !
Shop vacs?....That sux......
If you can buy it at Home Depot, it is as safe as melamine.
Won't pop, let alone bang; but don't eat it ot feed it to pets.
Somebody’s got a very big lawn!
Heve you ever heard of driving time limits?
They are very restrictive, with very big fines and penalties for exceeding them.
If you fired every one of your drivers who refused to exceed limits, you would end up with a lot of non-hablo's driving for you, before you went out of business due to the fines.
The dumb ass local news in L.A. said....”there was no indication that this was an act of terrorism, just a theft.”....HELLO?...what are thieves going to do with it...maybe sell it to terrorists? The news is beyond stupid.
Two nearby suspects: Forrest Lawn Cemetery, and Wilson & Harding Golf Courses in Griffith Park.
It was a bunch of vacuum cleaners. Industrial strips are the only places these guys can sleep anymore...most cities have banned semi parking.
It was more likely a drug cartel, looking for some free fertilizer for their free (public lands) pot farms.
Not uncommon-sometimes customers only receive goods at certain times of the night/day.
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