Toilets, sinks, and flush valves disappeared from 28 Oahu public rest rooms over the last 3 weeks.
Can you picture this gang?? [Cue Mission Impossible music…]
Thieves in the last three weeks have hit scores of city park bathrooms and made off with a valuable commodity: $10,000 worth of brass toilet flush valves.
City officials asked the public yesterday for help in finding the stolen parts, which police said could end up in a black market for construction parts or melted and sold for metal.
Construction materials and industrial supplies are sometimes stolen from job sites and new housing developments, police say, but rarely from public restrooms.
In addition to the valves, which cost taxpayers $100 apiece, police say the thieves made off with toilets, sinks and other items from 28 city parks located on the North Shore and in Central O’ahu.
City Parks and Recreation Director Lester Chang said repairs will be expensive.
Chang said the costs go beyond the value of the valves, because of the labor to replace them and the hidden cost of other work not being done because crews will be busy with repairing the toilets.
“The worst part of this is the inconvenience to the park users,” he said.
Two detectives are on the case, police said. No suspects or leads have been identified.
$10,000 in flush valves stolen from park toilets – The Honolulu Advertiser