Entire building stolen for scrap

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Updated: February 21, 2012 8:38AM

Call it Grand Theft Building.

Last week, scrap metal thieves in southwest suburban Shorewood weren’t content with mere scraps.

They first apparently called the owner of a business next to 18400 Frontage Road along I-55 and told him the structure was being dismantled that day because the property had been sold, the Will County Sheriff’s office says.

They then pulled up two semi-trucks to the building — and tore it down. They removed the steel from the structure and then carted it away in the trucks, officials said. At some point, a friend called the property manager to tell her what had happened. Police were called last Thursday, a day after the trucks left.

Sheriff’s deputies then tracked down the building owner who said, no, the building hadn’t been sold — and he hadn’t given anyone permission to tear it down.

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