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Thieves Snatch Trailer Full Of Beef

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

DADE CITY - Fifty years in the trucking business have taught Don Armstrong at least one thing:

Never leave a loaded tractor-trailer unattended.

The lesson hit home Sunday night when thieves stole a trailer from a trucking business along Paul Buchman Highway in Crystal Springs. The trailer held 40,000 pounds of beef - from spareribs to rib-eye steaks - with a retail value of $360,000.

'The bottom line is: My insurance will have to pay for it,' Armstrong said Tuesday afternoon. 'I don't know if the amount of insurance I've got will cover this load, so any money left over that my insurance doesn't pay for, guess what? I got to pay it.'

Armstrong owns Dade City-based Early Green Trucking. Drivers with the Crystal Springs firm Motorhead Enterprises were hauling the load under an agreement with Early Green, making Armstrong responsible for the stolen beef.

Armstrong said the beef was picked up Friday morning in Dodge City, Kan., and was to be delivered Monday and Tuesday to warehouses in Orlando, Miami and the Palm Beach area.

According to Pasco County Sheriff's Office reports, driver Gary Thomas dropped the haul at Motorhead on Sunday so he could go home to Zephyrhills. Motorhead owner Joseph Specht told investigators he had planned to haul the load to the warehouses Monday morning.
Specht said he left the yard about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, but not before pulling another tractor-trailer in front of the loaded trailer to secure it. When he returned to the yard about 4 a.m. Monday, the beef-filled trailer was gone. The stolen trailer was valued at about $19,500.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at tleskanic@tampatrib.com or (352) 521-3156.

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