MONTVILLE, Maine — After Eric Dayan and his household returned house from a tenting journey final weekend, the Montville arborist found his 2,000-pound wooden chipper had been stolen.
The theft of the $20,000 instrument, which he bought new three years in the past and serves as an integral a part of his enterprise, has hit Dayan laborious. He had left the bright-yellow wooden chipper parked on his property on the dead-end filth Twitchell Highway.
“I’d by no means in 1,000,000 years thought this is able to occur,” he stated. “I used to be in shock for some time. I stored anticipating it to be behind a bush, or for somebody to have borrowed it.”
And within the days since, Dayan, 40, additionally discovered the unwelcome information that though he thought it was absolutely insured, it wasn’t. That implies that not solely does he not have the wooden chipper that reworked what was all-day tree clear up jobs into an hourlong process, however he nonetheless should pay a $354 month-to-month mortgage fee on the stolen machine till it’s paid off.
“It’s more durable to do each job with out it,” stated Dayan, who has 4 kids together with an 11-month outdated child. “They took the meals proper out of my children’ mouths … I obtained by means of 40 years believing in individuals. I’m unhappy to burst that bubble.”
The vanished wooden chipper is amongst a latest flurry of instrument thefts in Maine that make it a lot harder for the victims to earn their dwelling. They’re additionally not small gadgets that might simply be slipped right into a pocket or bag, like a pockets or jewellery. As an alternative, they’re massive, heavy items of kit that probably require at the very least some effort — to not point out transportation — to steal.
Different thefts reported this week embody a custom-made meat smoker stolen from a Bangor enterprise and a brand new, commercial-grade dump trailer that price a contractor $11,000 when he purchased it final month.
“It’s taking away my livelihood,” stated Matthew Jones of Portland-based Forest Avenue Carpentry, whose dump trailer disappeared from a job website on outer Union Avenue in Bangor. “It makes it laborious for me to reside and pay my lease when somebody takes my instruments.”
Lieutenant James Ellis of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Workplace stated that his division continues to be investigating the theft of a pink log trailer stolen in December from behind the Freshie’s retailer in Orrington. It’s amongst a number of trailer theft circumstances in Penobscot County that stay unsolved. Quite a lot of the others have occurred in Hermon.
“Whether or not they’re all related or not, I can’t say,” Ellis stated. “Loads of the thefts we see are associated to getting cash for the acquisition of medication. Issues which can be stolen, we don’t know why individuals do it, however they do have a motive.”
No matter the reason being, the theft of instruments can put crime victims in a precarious financial place.
Jones, who lives in Portland however is from the Bangor space, labored for a very long time to save cash to purchase the dump trailer — an important instrument for jobs the place there’s a number of demolition particles.
He reported the theft to the police and hopes that it’ll resurface ultimately. However it wasn’t insured, so for the second he might want to both lease a trailer, determine tips on how to purchase a brand new one or simply use pickup vehicles to hold smaller a great deal of particles away from the location.
“It’s laborious, the quantity of labor and time it takes for me to have $11,000 sitting free and clear in my checking account,” he stated. “To have it stolen is absolutely, actually irritating. It’s completely more durable with out it.”
For Bethany Gregory, a chef working to remodel the shuttered Six Mile Falls Retailer on Broadway in Bangor into a restaurant, espresso bar and native meals market, the theft of her meat smoker was a shock. She moved from Cape Cod to Maine this 12 months and has cherished the nice and cozy welcome she has acquired from locals. However the disappearance of the smoker, which might price $12,000 or extra to switch, has been obscure.
Gregory observed it was gone on Tuesday.
“It’s mind-blowing to me. I’m nonetheless in disbelief,” she stated Friday. “It’s like when individuals go right into a automotive lot and siphon off their fuel and take their catalytic converters.”
There was a silver lining to the darkish cloud of the theft. A person from Ellsworth noticed a phase concerning the theft on the information and determined to lend her one among his tow-behind smoker models till she may get again on her ft.
“He introduced it yesterday,” she stated. “It was tremendous beneficiant and type.”
Dayan is hoping for a silver lining of his personal. He may use it. On Wednesday, he was on the telephone with varied insurers whereas his 15-year-old canine was dying.
“I’m on the telephone speaking to all these monetary establishments, and I’m attempting to maintain my canine calm and pat him,” he stated.
He discovered that the $2,000 insurance coverage coverage he was required to buy three years in the past when he took out the mortgage to purchase the wooden chipper from John Deere was canceled when he refinanced the mortgage by means of his native financial institution.
Dayan, who reported the theft to native police, hasn’t given up on the concept his wooden chipper may by some means come again. He’s providing a reward of $500 if it comes again damaged, however with the individual’s identify who took it, or $1,000 if it comes again working with no questions requested.
Within the meantime, although, he’s simply going to need to work quite a bit more durable to do his job than he did earlier than.
“It’s value it. It makes my life simpler,” he stated of the wooden chipper. “Now I’m counting on it. I don’t need to return to the outdated manner anymore.”
