Fort Bliss Experiences Rash Of Equipment Thefts

A Fort Bliss contractor complained to ABC-7 about a rash of equipment thefts on Bliss and Biggs Field.

The contractor, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being singled out by military police, said over the past few months, he’s had $60,000 to $70,000 worth of equipment disappear on post.

Fort Bliss’ massive expansion will total more than $4 billion and take thousands of pieces of equipment to complete.

“We do a lot of work with rock, shades, stuff like that … landscaping, cement work,” said the contractor, who said a lot of his company’s equipment has been stolen off the post. “We had our utility trailer where we keep a lot of tools broken into, we lost vibrators, generators; we’ve even lost a brand new mixer that we just purchased.”

The contractor said the most expensive piece of equipment he’s had stolen is a $30,000 Bobcat tractor. He said the last time he saw the tractor, it was parked right next door to a military police station.

“It disappeared from there,” he said, “right from one day to the next.”

The contractor said all of the thefts have been reported to military police.

“We haven’t heard anything from any of the reports we’ve submitted,” he said.

ABC-7 asked Fort Bliss officials about the thefts. They referred reporters to the Army’s Criminal Investigative Command in Virginia, which responded with a statement: “Army criminal investigation command investigates allegations of felony crime and takes credible allegations very seriously.”

Meanwhile, Fort Bliss contractors continue to deal with the loss of their equipment.

“They control what goes in, but nothing’s controlled of the stuff that goes out,” the contractor said. “You lose profit, you lose man hours, you lose time. So it’s disheartening that that happens to you.”

The contractor said his company hasn’t been the only one hit recently on Fort Bliss. In fact, he said he knows of at least three others that have lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment.