Dive Brief:
- Jack Lucas of Hertz Equipment Rental in Omaha, Nebraska, was not looking forward to having to charge a customer the $35,000 cost of a Deere skid-steer loader that the customer had rented and thieves had stolen.
- Lucas got a call from one woman asking what a Hertz machine was going in her yard, and Lucas verified from the numbers painted on it that it was his. But by the time he got there with a trailer, thieves had moved it.
- Another man found it curious that a loader was operating at night with no lights and was being backed into a garage, so he called police, too, and that time Lucas had the equipment he needed to ferry the Deere back home.
Dive Insight:
Omaha police arrested two men in the case and charged them with theft by receiving stolen property. Lucas said it is easier than it should be to find keys that will start such equipment, but the company is moving toward installing GPS units to help it to quickly locate any missing gear.
