Thieves targeting big rig trailers in South Valley

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Detectives in the South Valley have made an arrest after a string of crimes targeting big rig trailers.

Investigators say more than a dozen parked tractor trailers have been broken into in the last couple weeks -- all in different parts of Tulare County. And police are still looking for more suspects.

Tractor trailers are allowed to park in certain areas overnight. Most times they're there as drivers take off to get some much-needed rest, or stay somewhere for the weekend. Lately, Visalia police and officers on the Auto Theft Task Force, or T-RATT, say parked big rig trailers have become a target.

"What had been happening was throughout the last 18 days we had experienced approximately 15 thefts of just locked tractor trailers," said Sgt. Ozzie Dominguez with the Visalia Police Department.

So, T-RATT got on the case. With the help from other state agencies, they planted a bait trailer in Ducor. It worked. At around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, detectives saw Robert Wayne Blackwell, 35, breaking into the trailer and stealing items from it. He was arrested during a traffic stop shortly afterwards.

"They did find stolen items inside his vehicle. That led to a search warrant at the suspect's residence. More items that linked him to these thefts were located there," said Dominguez.

Investigators are still looking into how many more thefts Blackwell could be tied to. Officers say criminals often sell the high value items on the street.

"These are large trailers packed with retail items ready to go into stores, so just boxes worth of these items are going to amount to thousands of dollars worth of losses to retailers," said Dominguez.

Investigators are still looking for more suspects and say they plan to use the bait tractor trailer again in the near future.