One thousand Christmas trees and two brand new semi trailers were stolen from a Costco parking lot in Miami, Florida, earlier this week.
According to The Miami-Herald, refrigerated carrier Florida Beauty dropped off two trailers, loaded with 500 Christmas trees each, to the Costco store located on 120th St. in Miami on Tuesday afternoon.
Both trailers, along with the Christmas trees inside, were stolen off the lot between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. that night.
Florida Beauty vice president Frank Ducassi said the trailers “were brand new — 2015 [models],” and valued at $78,000. The load of Christmas trees was valued at $18,000.
The agreement between Costco and Florida Beauty called for the trailers to remain on the Costco lot throughout the holiday season, as the trees were to be sold directly out of the trailers.
Costco’s normal safety protocol is to secure the trailers with lock pins to prevent unauthorized semi trucks from driving off the lot with them, however Florida Beauty believes the retailer failed to follow their own safety procedures.
“You could get it off the trailer, but you’d need an acetylene torch and there’d be pieces of the lock everywhere,” he said. “I’m almost sure they weren’t secured.”
In addition, the satellite tracking technology on the trailers were disconnected shortly after they were driven off the lot.
Local police are investigating the theft, but with very few leads and no witnesses, the chances for recovery are slim.