Tulsa Man's Livelihood Stolen In All-Too-Common Crime

UPDATE: Police recovered the stolen trailer Tuesday night, but did not find the pickup. Most of the victim's tools were also recovered. 

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Stolen trailers are a big problem in Northeast Oklahoma; some police officers even call it an epidemic.

While the trailers themselves are expensive, the real loss is often what's inside them. Such is the case for a Tulsa man, whose stolen trailer contained his entire livelihood.

The 2002 Dodge Ram 2500, with the black wheels and black brush guard on front, was stolen along with a trailer behind it. It happened Monday afternoon between 4 and 9 in the evening.

It was parked on a dead-end street at the corner of 2nd and Fulton in Tulsa. Inside the trailer, everything he uses to remodel buildings and do lawn care and snow removal projects.

"Air compressors, generators, snow blowers, lawn mowers, chainsaws, table saws, any tool, tile saws, hand saws, hand tools, sheetrock, mudding tools, stuff like that," John said.

John says it's frustrating to work hard, invest in your equipment for jobs, just to have someone take it. He says friends have offered to loan him enough to get by.

He's not going to let it get him down, he's going to focus on rebuilding.

"God's bigger than this and that's whose hands I put it in. He's bigger than this problem," John said.

This problem affects hundreds of people a year in Green Country. It's become so large, a multi-county task force has been set up. The trailers often cross county, even state lines.

If anyone tries to sell John's truck and trailer and equipment to pawn shops or on Craig's List, he has serial numbers and can identify all of it. For now, he's just going to rebuild the best he can.

"It leaves emptiness inside of you. I would explain it as being numb, you just get numb and stop feeling," he said.

Anyone who has seen John's truck, should call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.