Earlier this month a man broke into a Norfolk, VA refrigerant distributor’s facility and helped himself to one-hundred and fifty jugs of R-22 refrigerant. The news article can be found here, but there isn’t too much to read as cops don’t have much to go off of. No mention of how he transported it or moved it off site. It couldn’t have been easy moving thirty pound cylinders over a hundred times.
I’m mainly just shocked by the amount that this guy stole and that it was R-22 Refrigerant. That stuff isn’t cheap. Why couldn’t it have been R-410A? R-22 sells for $300-$315 a cylinder today. So, assuming he can sell all of that stolen product he stands to make $47,250 in profit. I’m starting to see why he thought it was worth his time. But, this guy could be an idiot as well and doesn’t know that he’s sitting on a gold mine.
I feel bad for the distributor though. That is a hell of a loss to take a hit on. I’m hoping that they have some kind of physical inventory insurance that will cover their loss.
Either way I thought I would share this article. Oh, and if you happen to live near Norfolk, VA and come across a shady looking dude looking to sell you one-hundred and fifty jugs of R-22 from the back of his box truck I would back away slowly and call the cops. Get his license plate if you could.
