Truck Tires Stolen From Wagoner Business

Burglary suspects have made off with thousands of dollars worth of truck tires from a Wagoner business. Wagoner Police say the thieves may try to re-sell the tires. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Chris

Tuesday, September 26th 2006, 10:47 am

By: News On 6

Burglary suspects have made off with thousands of dollars worth of truck tires from a Wagoner business. Wagoner Police say the thieves may try to re-sell the tires.

News on 6 reporter Chris Wright spoke with Gary Welch of Gary's Tires and he says sometime early Monday morning, burglars pulled up to his store with a trailer, filled it up with $15,000 worth of tires and took off.

Burglars made some tracks sometime early Monday morning after stealing between 60 and 80 truck tires from a trailer outside of Gary's Tires in Wagoner. Wagoner Police Chief Terry Hornbuckle: â€œrun in there, bam hit and run, it's pretty easy to do."

Hornbuckle says tire stores are an attractive target because so much merchandise is kept outside. â€œAny tire dealer in a small town or big town can be a target, break in, grab and run, get your merchandise and be gone.â€

But this was by no means a quick burglary. Wagoner Police say it took the thieves about an hour and a half to unload all the tires from this trailer.

Police say a witness at a nearby gas station spotted a white, Ford pickup truck with a trailer full of tires making its way out of Wagoner. Gary Welch, the store's owner, suspect the tires will be re-sold in other parts of Oklahoma, or possibly Missouri or Arkansas, for bargain prices. "Say you take 60, 80 tires, you sell them for a hundred and a quarter, $150 each, that's quite a bit of profit."

Welch says there is no real way to track the tires. They do have serial numbers, but he says tire stores rarely keep those on file. Welch says another shipment of truck tires is on the way, but they will not be left outside. "We got some coming in tomorrow, but we'll put them somewhere with alarms and stuff.â€

This is the second time in as many years Gary's Tires has been robbed.

Wagoner Police say the stolen tires could be re-sold at places like truck stops, pawnshops or flea markets.