When the sun rose in Phelan on the morning of Saturday, April 24, on an empty property on the West corner of Phelan Road and Wolf Drive, a storage shed was elevated several feet in the air on cinder blocks. On Wolf Drive were two long bundles of chain link fence that the previous morning surrounded the property. This was the scene of a crime in process.
The following morning, the result of the heist was visible. The insulated storage shed was no longer elevated above the floor for a trailer to pull up underneath. Instead, one side was on the ground with a corner broken into pieces and the flooring destroyed. The front gate was on the desert floor, with the chain and lock still attached. Pieces of broken wood were strewn throughout both roads; on Wolf Drive, a truck’s tailpipe laid on the dirt next to a bent fence post. It appeared that the night before, things did not go according to plan.
A neighbor who did not want to be identified says that this crime has happened before. The corner residence has several storage sheds on the property, and no one has lived there for over two years. A shed was previously stolen some months back. They believe whoever did this is aware that the property is vacant, so the risk is relatively low. Crime in the area has been on the rise since the decline brought on by the pandemic. If you see a crime in process, it should be reported to local authorities. The neighbor we spoke to for this article says they did not report this crime because they only noticed it after the fact and because it’s none of their business.
Over the last several month NewsPlus has received an increasing number of reports regarding stolen fencing. Most recently a report of stolen fencing in Phelan near Smoketree Rd between Johnson and Sheep Creek Roads.
