BAINBRIDGE, GA (WALB) - South Georgia investigators need your help to track down crooks who stole more than $100,000 worth of chemicals from farms in several counties.
Farmers are baffled by the thefts because they say it won't be easy for the thieves to sell the chemicals, but it is a costly hassle for the farmers.
Farmers in Decatur and Baker counties are still recovering from thieves stealing 10s of thousands of dollars worth of chemicals.
"A lot of theft of what I would say high dollar chemicals. Mainly used for peanuts and cotton. Specifically Valor is one chemical that has been stolen. That's the chemical that's been stolen from our farm," said Farmer Andy Bell.
In two separate surveillance videos you can see masked men breaking into storage sheds and stealing chemicals.
"We're needing the public's help to identify them. There is reward money put out by Decatur County Citizens Against Crime. And we need the public's help to catch these individuals," said Decatur County Sheriff Wiley Griffin.
Farmers say the resell value is nothing compared to the cost of replacing each chemical.
"They're so expensive and I guess they're selling them for pennies on the dollar compared to what they're worth. Or it could be some farmer somewhere using the chemicals. But it's a very costly problem for farmers," said Bell.
And farmers say locating a chemical buyer is harder than a copper buyer.
"When you're dealing with a copper theft, you know where the buyer is at. He's at the mill or the recycler. When you're dealing with copper theft it could be any of thousands of people or the people could be using it themselves," said Bell.
Police say they think both of the thefts shown in the videos are related.
If you recognize any of the men in the videos, you can call the Decatur County Sheriff's Office at 229-248-3044.
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Farmer Andy Bell
Sheriff Wiley Griffin
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