Thieves Take $30,000 In Equipment From Enlow Tractor

It's a heist that would have raised some eyebrows, had the crooks been caught in the act.

A tractor auctioneer showed up to his Sapulpa store to discover some big pieces of machinery missing that totaled about $35,000.

"It isn't a quick smash and grab and go, it took time," Enlow Tractor Auction owner Josh Enlow said.

Enlow Tractor Auction is missing two John Deere tractors and a gator utility vehicle.

Owner Josh Enlow says it took more than one person to pull off the theft, and it's one he says thieves had to have planned days, even weeks, in advance.

"I think they had some idea of what they were coming after," he said. "We kind of believe they knew the lay of the land."

Almost the entire property is lined with fence and concrete barriers.

The one spot that's not blocked by barriers backs up to another business. It was there that Enlow said the crooks cut through a fence to get their hands the equipment.

But the job didn't end there.

Enlow said two more fences, on neighboring property, were cut to clear a path for the tractors.

"There's nothing more frustrating than to have somebody show up and steal something, whether it's at your home or at your business," he said.

Enlow said the thieves drove more than a mile to get to the alley where he believes the loot was loaded onto a trailer.

He says crooks had to maneuver the machines down some steep, rocky terrain, then they had to drive about a half mile down railroad tracks.

It was a trip that he says would have taken about 30 minutes per tractor.

"They'd liked to have had one more, but I don't if they got sacred or someone run them off," he said.

The thieves tried to get away with a third tractor.

Enlow says this one was other side of the fence when he showed up for work the morning of crime, which was the biggest burglary in Enlow Tractor's 50 years of business.

"It's how we make our livelihood," he said. "I guess the thief thinks he oughta steal something to make his livelihood, and I'd tell him to go get a job."

Enlow believes the thieves stole the equipment to sell for profit.

He suspects the burglary happened between midnight and 5 am.

Neither his business, nor the neighboring company, had security cameras.