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VERNAL — The owners of an oil-field service company are offering a $10,000 reward after thieves hit their business over the weekend.
The break-in at B & C Quick Test Inc. marks the third time someone has stolen from the business in less than a year.
"You wake up in the middle of the night and pray you're not going to go to work tomorrow and your stuff's going to be gone again," said Christi Cook, who owns the business with her husband, Brett.
In early 2012, someone stole a fuel card from the business and used it to buy $10,000 in gas.
"I found out about it when I got the bill," Cook said. "They were running (the card) on four pumps at a time."
Then, in October, someone broke into the company's shop and office. The thieves took laptop computers and tools, as well as personal items that belonged to employees.
"You wake up in the middle of the night and pray you're not going to work tomorrow and your stuff's going to be gone again." Christi Cook
"They even dumped (an employee's) lunchbox out and took his food," Cook said. "They stole coolers and Gatorade. I mean, just everything that they could possibly take."
But the latest incident is the most audacious so far.
Surveillance cameras from a neighboring business recorded two people entering the B & C Quick Test shop late Saturday night and staying for eight hours, Cook said.
The thieves left early Sunday morning, after loading one of the company's Dodge Ram 2500 pickup trucks, Utah plate A21 7UV, with tools, laptop computers, expensive fire-resistant clothing, steel-toed boots and a .22-caliber rifle. Then they used the truck to break open the locked front gate, and make their getaway.
"To me that truck is priceless, because that's how we make our living," Cook said. "That's how we hire people to do the job, and without the truck, we lose work."
The Cooks had their own surveillance system installed Thursday. It didn't do any good.
"They took the DVR and all the guts of the whole (surveillance system)," Cook said. "They cut every wire."
Authorities believe the burglaries are not random.
"Based on the items that were taken, they appeared to know what they were after," said Vernal police detective Shaun Smith.
The Cooks are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the break-ins. Police hope that will help them find the thieves.
So does Cook, who said she only wants one thing.
"For me and my employees to get some justice, because it's not only a violation to me," she said, "it's a violation to them also."
