LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- A bizarre theft at a Valley Station lawn and garden service dealership overnight has a local business owner taking extra precautions.
Just after 5 a.m. Saturday, a $35,000 tractor-bulldozer was stolen from Bluegrass Lawn and Garden on South Dixie Highway in Valley Station.
“It’s not fun being taken advantage of,” said Jim Kilgore, who owns the business. “As soon as we came in we went and looked at the video and it was stolen.”
In surveillance footage, a man can been seen riding up on his bike and heading to the back of the building where he stashes the bike and casually walks up to one of four tractors sitting on the property.
The man goes into the first one, then hops into a second, starts it up, and heads out.
Many other lawn mowers and tractors are locked in a fenced in area with barbed wire.
Kilgore said no machines have the keys inside so he’s not sure how he got it started so quickly.
LMPD sent their search chopper up Saturday morning to look for the tractor but did not find it.
But while WDRB was at the business Saturday afternoon, the owners got a call the tractor had been found nearly four miles away on Alexander Avenue.
“I just happened to look over the fence and see it ... the right place at the right time,” said Donald Snyder, whose security camera captured the tractor passing by his house after 7 a.m. Saturday. He noticed a Facebook post that one had been stolen then later saw it sitting the backyard of a vacant home next door.
LMPD arrived and found the tractor and dusted it for fingerprints.
Kilgore is just glad his tractor was found. He and employees wired many of the mowers and tractors together and temporarily disable the engines until the thief is behind bars.
If you have any information on the theft call the anonymous tip line at 574-LMPD.
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