SIMI VALLEY : 2 Stolen Cargo Trucks Recovered

Two tractor-trailer rigs stolen at gunpoint in Simi Valley early Sunday morning have been found in Los Angeles, emptied of their cargo of $240,000 worth of computers, Simi Valley police said Tuesday.

Detective Tom Marshall declined to say exactly where either truck was found. The first was spotted on a Los Angeles street Monday morning by an employee of Consolidated Freight Ways, the company that owns both trucks, Marshall said.

The employee called Consolidated Freight Ways’ security department, which called police.

The truck’s ignition switch had been removed so that a screwdriver could be inserted to start it, Marshall said. The truck “was in pretty good condition,” he said. “But the battery was dead and there was debris left, boxes and all, that they took the computers out of.”

Marshall said detectives were able to lift fingerprints from the vehicle.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department found the second truck Monday night and notified the freight company, which sent an employee to drive the truck back to Simi Valley, inadvertently ruining any chance that police might lift the robbers’ fingerprints off the truck, Marshall said.

Authorities are still hunting suspects and merchandise in the case. Police in similar cases have been able to trace merchandise from hijacked trucks to the people who stole it, Marshall said.