After $20,000 in material is stolen from a hospital construction site, where does it go?

Middletown police said the more than $20,000 worth of tools and equipment stolen this week from a hospital construction site could end up being sold out of state to a scrap yard or pawn shop.

Sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, someone cut a lock on one of the three gates that surround the Kettering Health Network site on Ohio 122, and stole numerous items, according to the police report.

When asked about the investigation, Maj. Scott Reeve said, “We are working on it.”

He declined to give details about the investigation but said there were no security cameras at the construction site. Police viewed surveillance cameras from area businesses, Reeve said.

He said after the “last big” theft of tools in the area, the thieves took the items to West Virginia. In another incident, items were sold in Indiana. He said local scrap yards are cooperative with Middletown police.

On Wednesday, Middletown police met with a project manager from Danis Construction at the site in the 6000 block of Ohio 122, just east of the Interstate 75 and Ohio 122 interchange, according to the police report.

The suspects broke into three of six outside storage units on the site, the report said. In total, more than $20,000 worth of tools and equipment was stolen, including 7,500 feet of electrical wiring valued at $10,000; copper water piping valued at $10,000; electrical extension cords; and multiple grinders and reciprocating saws, according to the police report.

A project manager told police that everyone left the construction site by 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and “everything was locked up,” including the three gates into the construction site.

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