KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City police say they’re dealing with a jump in calls about missing air conditioners.
In recent weeks, the crooks have been targeting the Plaza and Midtown neighborhoods.
One homeowner captured the bold theft on surveillance camera. See the footage in the video player above.
“He pulled up in a gold colored Lincoln Continental. We looked at the footage and was like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to drive away with an A/C unit,”‘ Clinton Megee said.
For Megee, who works at Atronic Alarms, he had to see it to believe it.
Just days after installing new security cameras at a client’s home, he returned to review the footage.
“He backed into the neighbors driveway. The car disappeared for a little bit. When he pulled away, the A/C unit was leaning up in the backseat, trunk of his car. And it was a brand new, about $8,000 air conditioning unit that was gone,” Megee said.
Police are looking for the suspect.
It’s a crime that takes only a matter of minutes, but costing homeowners thousands of dollars to repair and replace.
Local HVAC experts said getting a protective cage or chain for the unit is something you may want to consider.
“The thieves themselves come through at night, and it takes about 10 seconds to steal a unit. So they are stealing them multiple times, not just stealing it once. But the customer will get it replaced, and they’ll steal it again,” said LC Lomax, director of operations for CCI Securities.
In the last two weeks, Lomax said he’s installed at least a dozen cages on Jefferson Avenue neighborhood, located near the Plaza.
It’s an area he said has been hit countless times by the crooks.
He said for about $400, his company can protect air conditioning units, worth more than $4,000, from being stolen.
