Police recover thousands in stolen medical equipment, plates linked to stolen cars

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Near the beginning of July, law enforcement made eight arrests over a week in a Kansas City area theft investigation in the area of 55th and Brighton.

“We are seeing the pattern we did some looking into it and identified who owned what out there,” said Kansas City Police Department Detective William Richter.

KD said detectives recovered more than $10,000 in stolen medical equipment during the investigation.

Officers also recovered 10 stolen BMX bikes, a golf cart, and ski equipment.

“We found a lot of license plates that belong on something stolen at one point so that leads us to believe that at one point it was out there but the trailer, truck, car whatever was no longer there,” said Detective Richter.

KD stated that 38 vehicles, trailers, and campers were also towed during its investigation.

The police department worked with the City of Kansas City and the Missouri State Highway Patrol in the investigation that spanned over a month, KD stated.

It’s an area that has gained a lot of junk over the last year.

The property is owned by multiple people; private owners and some owned by the city.

It was hard for the owners to control as more camps popped up and items piled up.

“They no longer felt safe going down there with having interactions with these people,” said Detective Richter.

This bust is a win for KD, but also the owners and the businesses nearby as it has caused quite a headache for them.

One business told KCTV5 they had 300 gallons of water taken from their outside faucet in one weekend and they had to turn it off.

In February, another business was broken into and they had their 23-ton crane stolen. They used the GPS tracker and found it just down the road on the property.

This bust helped reunite a lot of owners with their missing property.

“We did recover some items from a gentleman that was moving cross country and his whole U-Haul got stolen. He happened to have his name and phone number on the item so that helped us to track him down. So he is super ecstatic that he is getting his items back,” said Detective Richter.

KD said it was a place the fire department visited daily due to an ongoing burn pit from the camps.

“It was just doing a lot of drain on a lot of resources between the fire department, the police department, the city,” said Richter.

There is still quite a bit of junk left that the city plans to clean up soon.

The rest there is meant to stay as it is owned by the property owners.

The owners and KD said they plan to keep an eye on the area so a theft ring like this doesn’t happen again.

Once the investigation is finished, KD will send the charges and case over to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office.

Detective Richter said all of these stolen items are a reminder to lock your vehicles, take your keys with you, and keep valuables at home.

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