More than two dozen truck tailgates have been stolen this month in the Birmingham metro area. This trend has truck owners scratching their heads saying Huh? Others are more harsh. Many didn't know it was possible.

 Birmingham police say three men have been arrested and charged with receiving stolen property in connection with 25 or more tailgates believed to be stolen. They say truck owners should lock their tailgates.Trained mechanics at Jim and Jim's Auto Body in Homewood agree tailgate locks are a good idea, but point out that most trucks don't have them.
   

A lot of people, including truck owners, were not aware that tailgates ever got stolen.

     "No it sounds stupid. I can't imagine anybody risking going to jail over a tailgate. And what in the world do they do with them? How many people are missing tailgates..sounds dumb to me," said Bruno Baggio. "I've had it for 15 years and nobody's tampered with that little baby yet." 

  It happens. To illustrate how quickly it can be done, with minimal or no tools two trained mechanics disconnected a taligate for our camera this morning in about eight seconds. They reattached it equally fast.

"Most truck owners don't know how to take it on and off or that it comes off, but these theives that are taking

these tail gates By the time they pull up and the driver walks around, he's ready to put that tailgate in the trunk," said Perry Man, Jim and Jim's Auto Body.
 
He thinks thieves may be stealing tailgates because it's probably easier than stealing copper.

"And there's no tags on it. So they can go to pretty much any scrap yard and sell it to them for 200 or 300 hundred bucks because they know good and well they're going to turn around and sell it for three or four hundred. You can buy side panels, but you can't buy good tailgates," said Man.

 "If you have a lock on your truck go ahead and lock the tailgate. That's what we're suggesting at this point, said Sgt. Johnny Williams, Birmimgham Police Dept. "We've ahd quite a number of calls at this point, but we hope to get their property back to them soon."

  "I've never heard of this before. As I said they are constantly reinventing the ways of coming up with ways of making money so this is the first I've ever heard," said Sgt. Williams.

 Detectives are trying to locate the owners of the tailgates. Tailgate thefts were reported across Jefferson County and the Greater Birmingham Area in cities such as: Hoover, Irondale, Leeds, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, and Trussvile.
Victims are being asked to contact the local authorities where the crimes occured to find out if their tailgates have been located.  For the owners replacing the tailgates can cost the owners up to $2,000.00 in some cases, while thieves can only get a fraction of that amount from a scrap or junk yard, according to police. Police recommend engraving the vin number of your vehicle on the tail gate to make it identifiable.

Police issued a release about the three suspects containing the following: 
 
"The first suspect has been identified as:
David Glenn Smith, 51, of Leeds, Alabama. A Receiving Stolen Property 1st degree warrant with a $50,000.00 bond has been obtained against the suspect. 

The second suspect has been identified as:
Jason Dowling, W/M, 26, of Leeds, Alabama. A Receiving Stolen Property 1st degree warrant with a $50,000.00 bond

has been obtained against the suspect. 

The third suspect has been identified as:
Roy Marshall Mitchell, W/M, 57, of Irondale, Alabama. A Receiving Stolen Property 1st degree warrant with a

$50,000.00 bond has been obtained against the suspect."

   - Source Birmingham Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Johnny Williams.