Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20

An out-of-service Sutter Creek Police = car was=20 destroyed by vandals who attempted to steal two city pickup = trucks.

Photo by: Scott Thomas=20 Anderson

One police = car, one dump=20 truck, two city pickups and numerous pieces of property belonging to the = City of=20 Sutter Creek felt the wrath of thieving vandals Thursday.

The = crime was=20 discovered Friday morning when city employees reported to work at the = sewer=20 treatment plant, where a small number of individuals had scaled a fence = and=20 gained access to the inner plant. Finding two sets of truck keys, the = suspects=20 jumped in separate city pickups - with the first one driving straight = through=20 the plant's front gate, which was chained shut.

Either before or = after=20 stealing the trucks, the suspects had smashed the windows from an = out-of-service=20 police car stationed near the plant. They also bashed its passenger door = in.=20 Next they turned their attention to a city dump truck, ramming a car = battery=20 through its front window.

According to Sutter Creek Police Chief = Rob=20 Duke, it appears the suspects tried to get away with the pickup trucks = by=20 driving down a broken dirt road that twists along a remote creek canyon. = As law=20 enforcement retraced the suspects' flight, they discovered numerous = spots where=20 both drivers spun their tires out on the path. Finally, both trucks were = discovered abandoned in the canyon - evidently after the suspects threw = in the=20 towel on trying to drive a steep, rugged hillside.

"I think they = were=20 probably trying to steal the truck that doesn't have any city insignias = on it,"=20 Duke said. "Past that, it's hard to say exactly what motivated them to = do all of=20 the things they did."

Both pickup trucks had mild to moderate = damage.=20

It's unknown at this time what the estimated cost of the = vandalism and=20 destruction to city property will total. Duke and his officers spent = Friday=20 afternoon examining the crime scene and processing physical evidence = left=20 behind.

While the damage is extremely concerning to Duke, he said = the=20 fact that the sewer plant itself was not disabled from operation was a = major=20 relief. "Right now everything appears to be running properly with the = plant," he=20 observed. "If what these suspects did had caused our equipment to stop, = the=20 entire city could have been in real trouble."

Scott Thomas = Anderson