SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An area nonprofit is asking the community for help after a video caught thieves stealing thousands of dollars of materials.
According to a Facebook post from the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento, surveillance footage shows multiple masked men breaking into a construction site through a chain-linked fence and backing up a truck to load stolen material.
Jim Curtis is a volunteer crew leader with Habitat for Humanity who showed up to the site Wednesday only to find locks cut and building materials stolen.
“We were all just really deflated, just kind of depressed about humanity,” he said.
In the past 12 months, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento has filed 12 different reports with the Sacramento Police Department for thefts and attempted thefts.
“We’ve had several times where there’s been theft at the site and they’ve put cameras in and we’ve worked with the Sacramento police to try and get, to try and stop it. But it has happened again,” explained Curtis.
For now, Curtis is giving the thieves the benefit of the doubt.
“I think that if those people that did the theft, if they actually realized what they were doing to these families, they probably would not have done it,” Curtis said.
Among the items recently stolen or damaged:
- Theft of siding from 13-home project causing $6,300 worth of damage
- Theft of catalytic converter, and wiring system damage to stop alarms causing $4,300 worth of damage
- Theft of branded truck, the primary vehicle used for the nonprofit's "Neighborhood Revitalization" program helping repair homes for low-income residents
Describing them as coordinated efforts, the nonprofit housing group said it lost about $30,000 in stolen construction material, catalytic converters, and even a branded Habitat for Humanity truck over the last year.
Leah Miller is the president and CEO for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento. She thinks the thieves knew exactly what they were doing.
“I think it would be hard not to know this was a Habitat job site given the posters that you see around. As well as the truck that was stolen has Habitat written all over it,” Miller said.
She said everyone felt the disappointment.
“This month we’re featuring 500 women out here on a job site for women build. And to come out and find the materials that we needed on-site in order to do the job with these volunteers had been taken, it’s heart-wrenching,” explained Miller.
She admits times are hard.
“Well, I think we’re in a tough spot. I mean the rising cost of construction materials, as well as the access to them due to supply chain issues, has created a situation where theft like this occurs, not just on our job site but on other job sites,” said Miller.
Habitat for Humanity officials recently filed a police report addressing the thefts, noting the suspected thieves posed as construction workers.
“As a nonprofit that works hard to stretch every resource and dollar donated to provide critically needed affordable housing for low-income single mothers, families, seniors, and veterans, we are heartbroken to see this deliberate and coordinated theft of needed build materials from our job site,” said Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento on its Facebook post.
Sacramento police encourage anyone with information to contact them.
READ MORE FROM ABC10:
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
WATCH MORE:
Armed robbers posing as candy salespeople rush into Stockton home