Museum HVAC thievery

The heating and cooling unit from the Tri-Cities Historical Museums warehouse on 172nd Avenue in Grand Haven Township disappeared sometime last week, museum Director Steven Radtke said.

I saw it on Tuesday, he said. When one of the volunteers went out to work in the building on Thursday morning, it was gone.

The incident wasnt reported to police until Friday morning. The missing unit was sitting on blocks next to the building and museum officials took the time to verify that it hadnt already been moved back onto the roof.

We had a leak at the warehouse building," Radtke explained. "The machine was taken off the building with a crane about three weeks ago.

The museum director said the roof repair had just been completed, so he was hoping the heating and cooling company had replaced the unit on the roof. But that wasnt the case.

Peerbolt's Inc. of Holland was lined up for the replacement job, but the company's Loran Peerbolt said they have not yet been notified to do the work.

We havent run into this before not around here, Peerbolt said. Its pretty unusual that a unit that big and heavy would be picked up and taken."

Peerbolt said the unit could have been cut up for scrap, but that would be noisy and a lot of work.

Something like that, if you brought it (to a recycler) in whole, it would raise a question, he said.

Police checked scrap yards in Holland and Muskegon on Friday and nothing like the missing unit was turned in, said Lt. Mark Bennett of the Ottawa County Sheriffs Department.

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Museum HVAC thievery