A refrigerated tractor-trailer containing $50,000 worth of frozen broccoli was swiped this week from a convention center parking lot in a western suburb of Chicago, the Sun-Times reported today, Dec. 28. The Odeum Convention Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park rents parking spaces to trucking companies.
The truck, owned by Goodway Transport of Bensenville, had been parked in the rear of the center since last Friday, and was checked Sunday to ensure the refrigerating unit was working properly, according to the Sun-Times. But when the driver returned to take the load to the East Coast on Tuesday, the $40,000 vehicle and its load of broccoli were gone.
Villa Park Detective Ed Zorich told the Sun-Times he thinks the tractor-trailer most likely was stolen for its refrigeration capability. If the thief indeed had a major thing for broccoli, it would be a shocker, Zorich told the newspaper. “Stranger things have happened,” he said. “I never say never.”
Last summer, another tractor-trailer was stolen from the center, but that truck was empty, Zorich told the Sun-Times.
