Elk Grove police recover semi-truck trailer containing $170,000 in Tesla materials

By Carmela Karcher

This is not something you hear every day: a single stolen-vehicle report turns into over $240,000 worth of stolen items, including a semi-truck, being recovered in Elk Grove.

“A stolen vehicle loaded with $170,000 worth of Tesla materials ends up in our city, in Elk Grove, and our detectives went to work thanks to some shared information from our law enforcement partners and they were able to locate that vehicle and all the materials inside,” Elk Grove police spokesperson Julissa Ortiz shared.

The California Highway Patrol took a stolen vehicle report of a semi-truck and trailer last week with tens of thousands of dollars worth of stolen Tesla material inside.

“CHP-South actually located the semi-truck shortly after, but the cargo was still missing,” Ortiz explained. “They then reached out to SACCATS, Sacramento County Auto Theft Suppression Task Force.”

SACCATS ended up giving Elk Grove police a call saying the trailer and its materials may be in their city.

Sure enough, they were right.

“Our property and crimes detectives went to work. They took that lead and ran. They were able to locate that trailer, not just the trailer, but all of the stolen materials inside,” Ortiz said. “We had a positive result out of this.”

The trailer was discovered abandoned on the side of the road. The trailer, truck and products inside totaled to over $240,000 of stolen material.

With this, Elk Grove police are sending a message to the community: If you see something strange like a trailer left along the roadway, call law enforcement.

“Someone may have seen that trailer and didn’t think anything of it,” Ortiz continued. “We do say, ‘If you see something, say something.'”

CBS News Sacramento is working to get more information from the CHP on whether an arrest was made and who this semi-truck and trailer originally belonged to.