These boots were made for walkin' -- and roping and dancing...
But about $3 million worth of Justin Boots and merchandise were also for the stealing.
Police say the footwear and related materials were hauled away from a distribution center in northeast Fort Worth by someone in a big white truck.
The thefts happened twice at the Justin Boot distribution center, 3500 E. Long Ave., said Lt. Paul Henderson, police spokesman.
The first heist was during Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 1, but it happened again on Nov. 9, Henderson said.
In both instances, someone cut the locked chain used to secure the gate and then drove the white tractor onto the property, Henderson said.
The suspect is a white man, possibly Hispanic, who is about 5-feet-6-inches tall and weighs about 170 pounds, Henderson said.
A surveillance video shows "a white single-cab tractor entering the property without a trailer and leaving with one, three different times. The tractor has no identifiable markings on it," he said.
Three containers mounted on three chassis were taken, Henderson said. They held 10,740 pairs of boots and 7,404 sets of boot uppers worth an estimated $2,386,414.04, he said.
Two of the containers-chassis sets were found empty and abandoned; one in Forest Hill at Southeast Loop 820 and Forest Hill Drive; the other in Grand Prairie at Interstate 20 and Great Southwest Parkway.
The third was still missing on Friday, Henderson said.
In the Nov. 9 incident, two more shipping containers were taken from the same property.
"A witness observed a white single cab tractor towing a Green China Shipping trailer away from the property," Henderson said. "Access to the property was gained by cutting a chain locked gate."
The 9,952 boots in the containers had an estimated value of $774,747, Henderson said.
Both container-chassis sets, he said, were recovered empty in Arlington: one at I-20 and New York Avenue; and the other at Texas 360 and Pioneer Parkway.
Justin Brands spokesperson Lisa Lankes said that the company is working with police and they don't know where the products may have ended up.
Company officials are concerned there may be a black market for their products, she said.
Lankes warned that if you see a Justin product at a flea market or any similar location to be wary, because the company only deals with businesses that have "fixed brick-and-mortar locations."
Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest, Henderson said. Call 817-469-TIPS.
Comments