By SAMANTHA TUCKER
Assistant Editor
Vandals caused nearly $100,000 in property damage to heavy equipment being used for work on Highway 67 south and Highway 158.
According to a press release from the Butler County Sheriff’s Department, deputies responded Tuesday morning to an incident of property damage.
Employees of HR Quadri Contractors arrived to work and found two Caterpillar excavators and two Caterpillar haul trucks damaged. The bucket of one excavator had been used to bash the rear of a dump truck and smash the hood of another, which also damaged the engine.
The other excavator had a jackhammer attachment, which had been rotated up into the base of the arm and activated, breaking the hydraulic cylinders.
Repair costs are presently believed to exceed $93,000.
A fifth vehicle, a bulldozer, had been driven but was not found to be damaged.
Capt. Randle Huddleston said the vandalism was committed while workers were absent for the holiday weekend.
“It would have been between Thursday, May 25, in the afternoon until Tuesday morning the 30th,” he said.
HR Quadri is part of a construction effort to expand Highway 67 south into a four-lane interstate, an effort funded in large part by a sales tax set up by Poplar Bluff residents.
Steve Bubanovich of HR Quadri said the vandalism caused a couple days’ delay and “significant” expense, but HR Quadri was able to relocate equipment from another project it was finishing up.
“This could have been a total disaster if I didn’t have some extra equipment and people to move it down,” Bubanovich said.
The work site previously had barrels knocked over and some fuel stolen, he added, but that kind of mischief was normal.
The investigation is ongoing, and anyone who may have pertinent information is urged to contact the sheriff’s department at 573-785-8444, 573-785-8445 or 573-785-8446.
This article has been updated to correct the spelling of the name Steve Bubanovich.