Thief steals $14,275 city of Palm Coast surveying laser

A city worker forgot it when he left a work site, and it was gone when he returned 15 minutes later.

By Jonathan Simmons
| 3:22 p.m. December 4, 2015

A surveying laser from Leica, as shown in a Leica brochure at leica-geosystems.com.

Palm Coast Observer
News

Someone stole a $14,275 piece of surveying equipment when a city of Palm Coast worker left it behind at the intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Rymfire Drive Nov. 30.

The employee left the work site at about 12:30 p.m. without the tool, a Leica TCR1203+ R400 Total Station Laser in a bright red plastic case, according to a Flagler County Sheriff's Office case report.

When he realized about 15 minutes later that he'd forgotten it, the employee went back to the work site, and it was gone.

The laser was bought in 2009 for $14,275, but fair market value for a new one is now $4,500.

There's a red light camera that faces the intersection where the laser was stolen, and the Sheriff's Office has asked the city of Palm Coast for the footage.

The employee gave a deputy a copy of the original invoice, which contained the tool's serial number, and a deputy wrote in a report that it would be entered in a crime database as stolen.