August 25, 2023 – In another camera recorded theft in a long line of recent camera recorded thefts in Clovis, a man was seen stealing a trailer out of the back of a business in Clovis off of Willow and Nees.
G.J. Gardner Homes, a member of the Central Valley California building industry, had a trailer in the back of its building off of Willow and Nees stolen recently, but also has the theft caught on camera.
With a “Ring” camera in place in the back of the business, the burglary began with a man attempting to spray paint the camera lens with a long pole of sorts. Unable to completely cover the camera lens with spray paint, the theft was then caught on camera. ‘
The man used a U-Haul rented truck in order to tow the trailer away from the business.
According to Vince Ybarra of ABC 30, a different business owner in the same shopping center said that they had a missing item and their door was damaged as if someone was trying to break in.
ABC 30 claims that Clovis PD has had over 300 calls to the shopping center within the last year.
In an interview with Allen Ly, owner of Pho VN, a restaurant in the same shopping center as G.J Gardner Homes, Ly claims, “There were stones or bricks that were thrown at these glass walls”, gesturing to the front glass doors of his business. He also stated that his next door neighbor took his business away from the area after his store was damaged.
On the G.J Gardner trailer theft, owner of the Willow and Nees location, Stephen Melchor says that the pillager “…cut the wheel locks off the trailer”, and then, “..went off and towed it using a U-Haul truck”.
Melchor is offering a $500 reward to anyone who might know where the trailer now resides. For the time being, he and his business will be renting equipment, as a new trailer for his purposes would cost nearly $10,000.
To contact G.J Gardner Homes with any information on the location of the trailer, visit https://www.gjgardner.com/contact-us/.