MUKILTEO — The police officer cordially asked the man he had just pulled over if he was having a good New Year.
The fidgety 36-year-old from Arlington hesitated.
“Yes,” he stammered.
The two men with him in the red pickup truck wouldn’t make eye contact with
the Mukilteo patrol officer in the early morning hours of Jan. 1.
The suspected metal thieves had a whole lot of explaining to do: 3,121 pounds worth to be exact.
In a trailer behind the pickup truck was a large four-bladed propeller that measures 92 inches in diameter.
The Arlington man told the officer a friend had given the prop to him.
The officer wasn’t buying it.
Even though it was partially concealed by a tarp, the propeller looked mighty familiar. After all, police had been driving by it for 15 years.
It was a landmark of sorts. It has stood in front of The Prop Shop, a marine supply business in Mukilteo since 1979. The propeller took two forklifts to hoist upright when it was installed outside the family-owned business on South Road.
Over the years, it had sunk about 10 inches into the ground under its own weight.
“We used to think there is no way anyone can ever move it,” Prop Shop co-owner Dianne Ives said. “I would say this was definitely premeditated.”
The crooks earned points for ingenuity. They came equipped with a mattress to keep the propeller from slamming onto the ground when they knocked it over. They also had a winch to pull it onto the trailer.
All three of the men were jailed for investigation of first-degree theft.
Part of their downfall was a lost license plate.
There was no plate on the trailer when they were pulled over around 3:45 a.m. Jan. 1. Police later found it, bent in half, lying in the driveway at The Prop Shop.
Ives can understand the monetary motivation. She surveyed local scrap metal recyclers Tuesday and received estimates of $1.20 to $2.20 a pound for the propeller, which is made of bronze, aluminum and nickel.
That means the thieves could have netted nearly $7,000 if they’d found a way to sell the propeller as scrap. To replace it, a new propeller of the same materials and dimensions would cost the company $31,831, plus shipping, Ives said.
It wasn’t the first time thieves have tried to steal the propeller. A few years ago, there were signs someone had tried to dig it out, but couldn’t get it to budge. After that, the company decided to get it insured for $14,000.
Officer Cheol Kang, a spokesman for the Mukilteo Police Department, said thieves should beware.
Extra patrols have been monitoring the business area after a rash of commercial break-ins, he said.
“It was a good catch,” he said. “They did a good job of being able to locate them when they were on patrol.”
Scrap metal is an $85 billion a year industry in the United States, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington, D.C.
Thieves follow the market.
“As the price of commodities increases, unfortunately the potential for theft increases and people take more chances,” Mark Neuville, a spokesman for the trade association, said.
Recyclers increasingly are working closer with law enforcement agencies to catch scrap metal thieves, he said. They routinely report people who try to sell suspicious items, such as man hole covers, aluminum bleachers, park benches and spools of new copper wire.
Scrap metal thieves remain active in Snohomish County.
“It’s down a bit from three to five years ago, but it’s still a problem,” Snohomish County Public Utility District spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.
Thieves here have stripped downed power lines for their copper.
“It is very dangerous,” Neroutsos said.
Nationally, in 2007, about two dozen people died in metal thefts from utilities, including a Vancouver, Wash., man who was electrocuted.
An Arlington man was sent to prison for stealing bronze urn markers from an Everett mausoleum. Metal thieves also have stolen brass fire hose fittings around Marysville.
The New Year’s Day theft is one of several over the years at The Prop Shop. People have busted through the fence to steal different metal pieces, Ives said.
That’s why The Prop Shop owners now are considering selling the propeller for scrap.
“We really don’t want it to be an attractive nuisance,” Ives said. “It comes to a point where is it really worth it to tempt them?”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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