An organized gang of thieves operating on South Whidbey is stealing thousands of dollars worth of tools from construction sites and is selling them for drug money, according to Island County law officers.

During the last three months over $30,000 worth of tools have been stolen from local construction sites, costing contractors time and money they can ill afford.

The Island County Sheriff’s office blames a group of five individuals for the majority of problems. Unfortunately, they are not leaving law enforcement much evidence with which to track them.

“There is definitely a sophisticated group operating on South Whidbey,” said Sheriff’s Detective Mike Birchfield. “They are savvy enough to use latex gloves.”

Although individuals involved in the ring are known to law enforcement, catching them with stolen property or in the act has been a challenge. Birchfield said his agency knows who is in the ring, where they live, the types of cars they drive and that one of them is the ring leader. All they need now is the evidence to arrest them.

“It’s only a matter of time before someone slips up or talks.”

The thieves are stealing high-ticket items, including compressors, saws and other power tools.

South Whidbey builder Traynor Hunt of Hunt Brothers Construction lost 30 different tools in a recent job site theft that he said have a replacement value of at least $6,000.

“That’s a substantial loss for any business,” Hunt said.

The tools were stolen from a utility trailer at a job site on Robinson Road. The thieves broke the lock on the trailer and took what they wanted, although apparently in a hurry.

“Apparently they were surprised during the process, because a lot of tools appeared to be dropped on the ground outside the trailer,” said Hunt.

Some of Hunt’s tools have turned up. A 19-year-old South Whidbey man and several juveniles recently were stopped while driving a truck filled with expensive tools in Auburn. The truck driver now faces theft charges in King County. According to Birchfield, the three were headed to a known drug hangout in an Auburn business park.

“We were contacted by King County detectives and were able to recover $2,000 worth of equipment from that truck belonging to a local builder,” said Birchfield.

That builder was Hunt. The recovery came as a bit of a relief.

“I was very happy to get those items back, two saws and a compressor,” he said.

Since then, Hunt has inventoried all his company’s tools, recorded serial numbers and videotaped everything.

“I jumped on it right away and began to