Thieves Net More Than $7,000 in Supplies, Equipment

West Orange police are investigating a series of burglaries that have occurred this week involving the theft of more than $7,000 in construction supplies and landscaping equipment, officials said. 

One of the burglaries took place at a Lakeside Avenue business where multiple businesses store landscaping equipment, police said.

According to police, more than $4,000 worth of landscaping equipment, including mowers and weedwackers, was stolen when the business was reportedly broken into Tuesday, March 12 around 1:30 p.m.

Police are also investigating a burglary from a Gregory Avenue residence where $3,173 of roofing materials were stolen sometime between March 9 at 6 p.m. and March 11 at 10 a.m.

The following items were reported stolen from the driveway of the residence, police said:

• Three pallets of Timberline roofing shingles
• Eight rolls of roofing felt
• Two boxes of nails
• 200 pieces of 5x7 step flashing.

Officials say the thieves left the wooden pallets in the driveway. Police theorize the thieves must have loaded the vehicle by hand and a work truck with heavy-duty suspension would have been required to steal the materials.