South Valley criminals stealing trailers at an astonishing rate

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- Anton Huffenberger started his car repair business with his trusty flatbed back in 1993. For more than two decades, no one tried to steal it-- now all of a sudden, it's a hot commodity.

"I caught him red handed, I was so upset I chewed him out, told him to grow up."

The first failed attempt took place last year-- than two months ago thieves stole a customer's trailer and last Tuesday they took Huffenberger's own trailer.

"Anything that I could do to stop them, I did, and four minutes and it was gone."

Huffenberger isn't the only business owner suffering, at least 28 cases were reported last year in the Kings County area.

Detectives said trailers are often stripped of their goods then sold for drugs or used to commit other thefts.

"If you are only using it on a farm or a dairy, you're not required to register it," said John Tyler, Hanford CHP.

Detectives say the solution is really prevention-- use tongue locks, chain your trailer to a car, and use another vehicle to block your trailer from being removed easily.

"A lot of these crimes we see in the surveillance videos, a vehicle show up, break the lock, put the trailer onto the hitch and drive away very fast," said Tyler.

Huffenberger said he did almost everything on the list, but the thieves came prepared. And he's now forced to step up his own game to catch them.

Officers say another thing you can do is to weld a special symbol or logo onto the bottom of your trailer. That way if it is found, you can claim it as your own.