Overview
- Investigators recovered two stolen trailers at an Elk Grove Township truck yard last week containing about $1.3 million in data-center supplies and copper.
- One trailer held roughly $300,000 in copper wire reported stolen in Pine Hill, Alabama, and the other carried about $1 million in specialized infrastructure taken from Jacksonville, Florida.
- Both loads ended up at the same Chicago-area yard, and law enforcement says the case involves multi-state leads as they track deliveries and examine how the goods were moved.
- Industry experts say thieves prefer untagged copper because serialized servers and parts are harder to resell, and missing power or cabling can stall entire rack and cluster deployments.
- Data show cargo and metal theft rose sharply in 2025, and the recovery has pushed carriers, data-center operators, vendors, and insurers to consider tighter yard controls, serialized tracking, and stricter carrier vetting.