A trailer stolen earlier this month from the Route 66 Ethanol plant was recovered Sunday hidden behind the Tucumcari Truck Terminal on West Route 66, but several thousand dollars worth of tools were missing, Police Chief Roger Hatcher told the Quay County Sun.

An unidentified male called Tucumcari police on Sunday to report that he thought the stolen trailer was hidden behind a berm behind the terminal, the Sun reported.

Together the trailer and the tools, which belonged to Brian Wink, a project supervisor at the ethanol plant, were valued at about $30,000, according to the paper.

"An enclosed trailer is worth at least $2,000," Hatcher told the Sun. "It's fortunate that we've, at least recovered the trailer."

Wink has offered a reward of up to $4,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for stealing the trailer and the tools, according to the Sun.

Anyone with information is asked to call the local Crime Stoppers at (575) 461-3507.

10:50am 4/14/08 -- Reward Offered for Stolen Tools: Trailer with $30,000 worth of tools stolen from Quay County ethanol plant.

A $4,000 reward is being offered to help solve the brazen theft earlier this month of a trailer and $30,000 worth of tools from the Route 66 Ethanol plant, Brian Wink, project supervisor at the plant, told the Quay County Sun.

Thieves apparently broke into the ethanol plant by going through Tucumcari's wastewater treatment property, pulled down a chain-link fence and once inside the ethanol plant grounds, hooked up the trailer and the tools to a pickup truck and drove off, Wink told the paper.

That happened some time between 6 p.m. April 4 and 8 a.m. April 5, he told the Sun.

Tucumcari Police Detective Jack Hendrickson said the black 20-foot-by-7.5-foot trailer may have been hauled off by a white pickup truck and that there were two or more people involved, the Sun reported.

Wink, who is from Iowa and is an employee of United Stainless, said work would continue on revamping the plant, which was purchased last year by SOZO Energy from Texas to become an R&D ethanol production facility, the Sun reported.

Wink said he is personally putting up the $4,000 reward through the local Crime Stoppers -- (575) 461-3507 -- for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible, the paper said.

Among the stolen items were an MIG welder and accessories, as well as power and hand tools and other equipment, according to the Sun.

The trailer had an Iowa license plate, 1730 BL, and its VIN number is 16HPB16251G082793, the paper said. 

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