Nearly $400,000 worth of construction equipment gone missing from multiple jobsites in the upper Mid-Atlantic has been recovered, thanks to coordinated police work and a sharp-eyed aerial drone.
A joint investigation by state police in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware suggested that the same suspect had taken the pilfered equipment to a location near Elkton, Md. Unable to quickly establish probable cause to enter the expansive property based on ground surveillance alone, the Cecil County, Md., sheriff’s office flew a camera-equipped drone around the perimeter. Video from the drone’s flight revealed a number of pieces of construction equipment behind a large structure.