Thieves Take Thousands from Oklahoma City Homebuilders

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

YUKON, Oklahoma -- Several local homebuilding are out thousands of dollars after thieves targeted their work sites stealing their material.

Tire marks lined the back of one of the homes in the Shire Lea subdivision, and a piece of wood laid perfectly against the wall. The man responsible for building the house said that was all evidence of what was used to rip him off of 120 packages of shingles.

"They slid everything on the back there. Not only that but they've obviously done it before. Yeah they are good, whatever they did they did it right," said Daymon Thomas, J&R Custom Homes.

Thomas, who has been building homes for years, said he didn't know that was possible until now.

"It's rare because the shingles weigh so much and it is in such a big bulk," Thomas said.

And while Thomas said he was lost about $9,000 worth of shingles, he said other home builders in the area are dealing with similar problems with thieves stealing everything from sheet rock to windows.

"This is nothing new to the police department," said Oklahoma City Police MSgt. Gary Knight.

Knight said he is not surprised by the theft and said investigations revealed it's often times a contractor trying to make a quick buck.

"They will sometimes take an appliance from one home and take it to another home and charge that home builder for it," Knight said.

There is no saying that is what's happening in the Shire Lea division, but what it does do is cut into the homebuilders' profits.

"It's not a big profit, so any loss on these homes is an extreme amount of loss to us," Thomas said.

Police said in some cases home builders are left with no choice but to pass their losses on to the consumer by increasing the price of the home.

Homebuilders said they are now hiring overnight security in hopes of stopping the thieves.