Police, FBI raid business in probe of pallet thefts

4/16/2011

Perrysburg Township police and the FBI raided a township business Friday as part of a probe into a potential grand theft scheme involving stolen pallets sold to a recycler in Michigan.

Township Detective Sgt. Jim Gross said his investigators were trying to determine whether 400 specialized plastic pallets at Pallet World Inc., 8232 Fremont Pike, were acquired legally and the FBI was assisting with paperwork. No arrests were made. He said the 400 plastic pallets, valued at $70 each, were found at Pallet World.

The probe began with a tip from the pallet manufacturer, intelligent Global Pooling Systems Inc. of Orlando, Fla., also known as iGPS. “We’re going to review all the information and make a determination for them,” Sergeant Gross said. The manufacturer’s losses to the theft scheme amount to seven figures, he said, and a company representative was in Perrysburg Township assisting in the investigation. He declined to say how the company connected Pallet World to the scheme.

Pallet World shares a business park with Perrysburg Self Storage, Welch’s Golf Carts, and Mulch. They have a common sales office, which was closed while investigators were there.

Dana Rovite, an iGPS spokesman, said a black market for stolen pallets existed, but she did not know about the Perrysburg Township investigation.