Police don’t know whether the man who stole a shipping container full of photovoltaic solar panels earlier this month knew what he had taken, Honolulu police Sgt. Kim Buffett said.
What is clear is that the thief will have a hard time getting rid of the more than 400 Sharp 240-watt photovoltaic solar panels, valued at more than $20,000, Buffett said.
"They’re all registered and have model numbers," she said. "Whoever has them, he can’t do anything with them."
Honolulu police and CrimeStoppers are asking the public’s help locating the thief.
At about 5 a.m. April 11, a man in a white semitruck with black lettering entered a locked, gated entrance to a military property on Aliamanu Road where Environmental Chemical Corp. had the panels stored in a blue Horizon Lines shipping container with the serial number GESU-484819.
When queried by a security guard, the man said he was there to pick up an empty shipping container. The security guard did not press further since the man got onto the property after entering the pass code for the gate, Buffett said.
The suspect then hooked up the container’s trailer to his truck and drove off, police said.
The semitruck trailer was a red Hyundai with the license plate 483OTR. The panels are described as Sharp 240-watt photovoltaic solar panels, model ND-240QCJ.
The suspect is described as in his 30s, weighing 180 pounds and wearing a white T-shirt, long denim pants, a beanie and boots.
The case is being investigated as a first-degree theft. The man appears to have been acting on his own, Buffett said.
Environmental Chemical is installing solar panels on military property on Ford Island, and was using the Aliamanu location to store material, Buffett said. Police are not disclosing the exact location of the crime as a security precaution, she said.
A call placed to the answering machine of Environmental Chemical’s Aiea office was not returned Thursday afternoon.
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellphone. Free cellphone calls are provide by AT&T, Nextel Hawaii, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless Hawaii, Mobi PCS and Hawaiian Tel.
