Theft losses upset home builders

MAT-SU -- A series of thefts in Southcentral Alaska have home builders keeping a watchful eye on their tools and materials and talking about pooling some cash for a reward.

"I feel like we're being ignored, as if this were a minor problem, and I'd like to say that this is not a minor problem," Thom Antonovich, owner of Antonovich Contracting said. He estimates that more than $100,000 in tools and materials have been swiped from Valley job sites in recent months -- and that only includes the thefts he's heard about.

Antonovich and other members of the Mat-Su Homebuilders Association will be getting together soon to talk about lobbying for enforcement and putting up a reward for information. Many other precautions have already been taken -- maybe exhausted -- by an industry that some feel is under siege.

Tools and appliances have been stuffed into closets or otherwise kept out of view from the road, tool trailers have been packed and towed away nightly, and new homes have had lights installed and left on all night as soon as electric service arrives.

"There's not a whole lot that can be done, but were trying to put together a motion at the Homebuilders [Association] to advertise a reward that will put up 2,500 bucks or so," Antonovich said. "Myself and a group of contractors are seriously considering pooling together for a security patrol."

Antonovich said the patrols would be in a cluster of subdivisions off Seldon Road. That's an area where a single security guard could check several building sites once every 20 minutes or so. Many builders have work spread out all over the Valley, making a plan like that too expensive.

One standard construction practice is to avoid having materials delivered early and install them into the house as soon as they arrive, but this year thieves have actually un-installed doors, windows and in one case a hot tub, Antonovich said.

Some of the thefts have physical

evidence in common, according to Sgt. Dallas Massie, an investigator at the Palmer Alaska State Trooper Post.

"We do know that a number of these are tied together, but we don't know that all of them are tied together," Massie said.

As for the reward offer, it just might work. Massie said feedback from the community is something the investigation could use.

"Somebody needs to pipe in from the community that they got too good of a deal on a chop saw or a tool box full of tools," Massie said. "This has been kind of an unusual wave of criminal activity in that we're not getting much feedback."

Antonovich suspects the building material thieves are putting the materials into a construction project of their own. He suspects this, he said, because he's heard of a case where more expensive materials such as siding are passed over in favor of lumber.

"It's worth peanuts -- and the siding is worth several thousand dollars. So that was someone who needed the building studs … I'm thinking it's a group of people that are building houses somewhere in an outlying area," Antonovich said.

Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said troopers don't discourage anyone from offering cash rewards for information, but also said he hopes the home builders use the existing Crime Stoppers tip line program.

"We encourage them to go through Crime Stoppers, so that the information can be passed on to either the troopers or the police," Wilkinson said.

"If they take their own calls they may miss an opportunity to ask the right questions," Wilkinson said.

Mat-Su Crime Stoppers offers confidentiality to tipsters who don't want to be interviewed directly by police officers. Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards of up to $1,000 if the information leads to an arrest and indictment. The number to call is 745-3333.