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LOGAN -- Logan police are spending extra time in a neighborhood where a lot of looting is being reported. The homes have been sitting vacant for a while, and someone has been going through those empty homes stealing items.
Technically, the 17 homes along 1000 West between 200 South and 600 South now belong to UDOT. They will soon be demolished.
The contractor doing the road construction was counting on being able to salvage any items in or on the houses. That's part of their contract to do the job.
However, in the past few weeks, a lot of those items have been stolen. Someone -- or a group of people -- have been going through them, stealing cabinets, windows, doors, vinyl fencing and even a garage door.
UDOT says it sees this type of vandalism from time to time whenever it is dealing with abandoned homes for a project.
Police say it happens at night, during the day and even when people are around.
"Nobody knows what they're going to take, what they're going to keep, and what they're going to try and do with this stuff," said Assistant Logan Police Chief Jeff Curtis. "Anytime somebody goes in and takes the property of another without their permission, it's a theft."
A man who lives in this neighborhood says it's frustrating, especially because it seems like it's become a "free-for-all."
The biggest concern is liability. UDOT is worried if someone gets hurt looting, UDOT could be liable.
Logan police will do extra patrols around these homes until the contractor can get the project going and has a chance to go through the homes. That should happen in the next couple of weeks, because construction of the road is set for the end of February.
E-mail: acabrero@desnews.com
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