IAATI President Chris McDonold (left) Detective Jim Frauenhoffer, Baltimore Regional Auto Theft Team (Center) Director Rusty Russell NICB (right) McDonold and Russell (from the IAATI Heavy Equipment Committee) present award to Frauenhoffer. Image submitted by Ed Cox

The second group of winners of the AGC Heavy Equipment Award were Detectives Mark Burger of Baltimore County Police Department and Jim Frauenhoffer of Baltimore City Police Department. Both are members of the Baltimore Regional Auto Theft Team.

Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger have been members of the Baltimore Regional Auto Theft Team since its inception. As partners, they have provided enthusiasm, dedication and experience to the unit. These two nominees work major case investigations and they use a variety of techniques, including the use of informants, to investigate professional car theft rings. They also investigate thefts of construction equipment, truck/ trailer and cargo theft and motor cycle/ All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) theft cases. Their success is not predicated on the total number of arrests they make, but rather the quality of the cases that they make against professional vehicle thieves.

The Christopher Banning Investigation

During the last half of 2009, the Baltimore metropolitan area suffered a huge spike in theft of construction vehicles and machinery. The crimes varied greatly regarding the types of machines that were stolen, when they were stolen and how they were being transported. Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger began investigating these thefts sorting through the few pieces of evidence.

On October 21, 2009, Detective Fields was contacted by a truck driver for a local heavy duty towing company and was told that the day before, a customer had contracted tow company to use their trailer to pick up and deliver a Caterpillar D5 bulldozer from a job site in Harford County, MD. The driver was followed by the customer, who called himself Chris Banning, to the job site which was actively being worked by a large road-building company upon their arrival at approximately 11pm. In fact, a Maryland State Trooper in a marked police car was 50 yards away acting as a highway safety operator. Banning went to the bulldozer, started it up, drove it onto the trailer and strapped it down himself, a process that took over 20 minutes. The driver, along with Christopher Banning, then drove it to a remote area in Elliottsburg, PA (90 miles away) and left it behind a mulch business almost in the woods.

The driver explained that the customer always paid cash and often contracted with his company during the overnight hours. He felt this last job was especially strange, but assumed it was legitimate due to the police offi cer being nearby and that none of the workers questioned him.

It was learned that the Caterpillar D5 bulldozer was reported stolen to the Maryland State Police. The machine had a value of $75,000. (CASE #1) The suspect was brazen enough to steal it within eyesight of the police offi cer and employees of the victim.

The ensuing investigation revealed the “customer’s” name was indeed Christopher Banning. Upon reviewing several of the recorded tow slips, a phone number for Christopher Banning was also obtained. Detectives learned that Christopher Banning had used this same phone number in recent arrest reports as his own. Upon putting a photo array of Christopher Banning and 5 other look alike images, witnesses positively identifi ed Banning. Upon interviewing other tow drivers and analyzing the tow company trucks’ embedded GPS devices, Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger determined where the Caterpillar D5 was delivered and prepared a Search and Seizure Warrant.

On October 23, 2009, with signifi cant assistance from the Pennsylvania State Police Auto Theft Unit, particularly assigned Detective Steven Myers, RATT executed a Search and Seizure Warrant at 5367 Veterans Way in Elliottsburg, PA and located the stolen Caterpillar D5. The owner of the property was interviewed and explained that he bought this machine from a black male who told him his name was “Curtis Bowers”. He explained that he didn’t know it was stolen and provided another address where “Curtis Bowers” sold a 2007 Case 420 Skid Steer loader to a friend. Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger then inspected that machine and identifi ed it as being stolen from Baltimore City on June 4, 2009.

The interviewee then admitted to buying a John Deere 310 Backhoe Loader from “Curtis Bowers”, but had moved it to get repaired. Upon being taken to that location several miles away, the detectives identifi ed it as being stolen from Baltimore County, MD on July 13, 2009. A review of tow slips revealed that Banning had contracted with the same tow company to pick up and deliver this machine to Pennsylvania.

A stolen Bobcat Skid Steer was located on November 6, 2009 in Millerstown, PA by the Pennsylvania State Police based on information gained from another witness. The machine had been stolen from the M Luis Company in Baltimore City on October 11, 2009. The suspect was identifi ed as Christopher Banning.

A Takeuchi 153 Excavator was recovered during the same incident in Millerstown, PA and found to have been stolen in Baltimore County on May 15, 2009. The suspect was identifi ed as Christopher Banning.

A 2006 Caterpillar 252 Skid Steer was recovered during the same incident in Millerstown, PA and found to have been stolen in Baltimore City on March 21, 2009. The suspect was identifi ed as Christopher Banning.

Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger applied for and obtained arrest warrants for Banning in Balitmore City, Baltimore County and Harford County regarding these thefts, but were unable to locate him immediately. However, a cooperating informant had been contacted by Banning regarding a skid loader that Banning wanted to sell. On November 18, 2009, Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger, along with the Pennsylvania State Police Auto Theft Unit and other members of RATT, organized a sting operation in an effort to arrest Banning. Shortly after midnight in a remote corn fi eld 30 miles north of Harrisburg, PA, Banning arrived in a tow truck with a Bobcat Skid Loader. He attempted to fl ee but was tackled by Det Frauenhoffer and taken into custody. This skid loader too was found to be stolen in a Burglary in Baltimore City earlier that night. The PIN plate had been removed.

Banning consented to an interview in which he denied stealing anything, but admitted to “delivering” them. He was taken to the local jail and awaited extradition to Maryland. Despite being bailed out numerous times, he is now incarcerated in Pennsylvania awaiting trial for charges received in Pennsylvania, related to this investigation. He is also pending trial in Harford County MD, and has received convictions in Baltimore.

Throughout this case Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger tirelessly worked leads to develop the suspect, recover the property, collect evidence and ensure that a prosecution was sought. Techniques used by these Detectives run the gamut of utilizing new technology (GPS and cell phone analysis) to often underestimated “old school” methods (interviewing and developing informants). Their tenacity and attention to detail led to a suspect being developed and to the recovery of a great deal of heavy equipment.

The Douglas Brooks Investigation

In March 2011, Detectives Burger and Frauenhoffer followed a LoJack signal from a recently stolen 2010 Case 430 skid steer loader. Upon locating it in an alley, they placed a GPS on it and began conducting surveillance. While waiting, they canvassed the neighborhood, determining that a Hudson Trailer parked about a block away was illegally tagged (by a man having the last name of “Brooks”) and probably involved in the theft. Another block down, they located a white Ford E350 van parked and registered to the same “Brooks” subject. They knew, from monitoring ALL construction thefts in the Baltimore region, that one recent skid steer theft in Baltimore County involved a white Ford Van. They also knew from their extensive experience of investigating construction thefts, that a subject by the name of “Douglas Brooks” was from the area that the tags on the Ford van and trailer were registered to. It was determined, from quickly researching available databases, that Douglas Brooks was the son of the van owner.

Within a few hours, they observed Douglas Brooks and another accomplice use the van to hook up to the trailer and load the stolen Case skid steer. They were stopped and arrested. The trailer was found to be stolen from Baltimore County a few days earlier. The accomplice was found to have an open arrest warrant for unrelated crimes. After consenting to be interviewed, Brooks, who remembered and acknowledged how fairly Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger treated him in previous arrests in 1997 and 2004, agreed to speak to them.

Within hours, Douglas Brooks had taken Detectives to several locations where he committed construction thefts and provided addresses, names and phone numbers to persons he sold them to. At the conclusion of the interview, Detectives had cleared 19 cases of construction theft attributed to Brooks! Although this case is still ongoing and recoveries are still being made, it is quite evident that without their constant attention to the region’s thefts, this investigation would never have developed as fast as it did. Because of this attention, another prolifi c construction thief would have continued to hurt those in the industry.

CONCLUSION

Detectives Frauenhoffer and Burger have been members of the Baltimore Regional Auto Theft Team since 1994 and have successfully worked major cases involving every aspect of Auto Theft. However, their passion has been, and continues to be, construction theft. Since being assigned to RATT, these Detectives have been qualifi ed and recognized by Federal, State and City Judicial branches as expert witnesses and testifi ed in trials concerning the theft of construction equipment. During the Spring of 2011, Detective Frauenhoffer was chosen to speak at a local construction equipment retail association meeting to address the problems of construction theft and tips to prevent it. He was warmly welcomed and has since been contacted by several members to assist with problems. Both have taught both basic and advanced construction machine/vehicle theft and identifi cation to Law Enforcement officials throughout the mid-Atlantic region. If ever two Detectives deserved the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators Heavy Equipment Award, they are Detective Jim Frauenhoffer and Detective James “Mark” Burger. Nomination submitted by Detective Corporal Steven Sunderland.