Hotwired NJ State Trucks Used in Thefts

Police say someone has been borrowing New Jersey Transportation Department vehicles in a series of odd and complicated thefts in Cherry Hill.

Police say four times in the last five month, thieves have hotwired a state dump truck and backhoe to knock down fences at a transportation yard.

With the fences down, they had access to used radiators, road signs, posts, copper wiring and other metal goods, which they stole.

Cherry Hill Police Lt. William Kushina tells The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill in most cases, the vehicles were returned to the yard.

But Kushina says in the latest incident on Dec. 31, a driver abandoned the dump truck on Route 70 and ran away.

No arrests have been made.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)