Tires targeted in theft
Left without wheels, Nebraska couple is delayed in getting to son's wedding
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

Crime scene STAFF PHOTO BY PHIL REYNOLDS Port Aransas police Lt. Darryl Johnson fingerprints a truck that was stolen sometime Monday night, Nov. 26, and stripped of its wheels and tires. The truck was abandoned in an RV park south of Port Aransas.

Donald Wackerbarth had his truck back by Tuesday morning. It just didn't have any wheels or tires.

Police say sometime before 5:41 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27, somebody took Wackerbarth's 2005 Ford F-450 truck from his trailer space at Pioneer RV Park and drove it a couple of miles south on State Hwy. 361 to the Gulf Waters RV Park, stripped the wheels and tires, and left it.

Wackerbarth, 69, of Blair, Neb., and his wife had been preparing to go back home to Nebraska, where a son is about to get married.

"We wanted to leave today, to give us a couple of days to spare," Wackerbarth said Tuesday, looking ruefully at what was left of his truck.

He said the nearest tires and wheels that would fit the truck are in Houston. They should be in Port Aransas in a day or so at a cost of around $4,000, he said. The truck, designed to pull a trailer, has dual rear wheels; that means six wheels and tires must be replaced. The thieves left the spare tire, which they used to prop up one of the truck's axles.

STAFF PHOTO BY PHIL REYNOLDS Damages Donald Wackerbarth, left, and Police Chief Sam Russell inspect the interior of the truck.

Bricks used to hold the truck off the ground while the thieves removed the tires were apparently taken during the night from near the RV park office.

Detective Lt. Darryl Johnson processed the truck for fingerprints Tuesday while Wackerbarth and Police Chief Sam Russell inventoried the truck for what else was missing.

The thieves had tried unsuccessfully to remove a global positioning system (GPS) unit in the truck and had taken a good cold-weather jacket, Wackerbarth said. But they left a camera and the pants to the cold-weather outfit.

An ice chest containing shrimp and oysters was still in one of the tool compartments in the rear of the truck. There was still ice in the chest.

The jack belonging to the truck was also still in one of the compartments.

Johnson said the investigation into the theft was just beginning.

Wackerbarth said he and his wife have been to Port Aransas several times as Winter Texans, though they go to the Hill Country some years. They planned to return after the wedding.