INDIANAPOLIS -- It's a growing crime you might not be aware of - thieves are stealing heat pumps from new homes and homes that are under construction.
David Kelly said his southeast side neighborhood had been targeted recently. At least four or five homeowners in the Chessington Grove neighborhood have had their heat pumps stolen in just the past couple of days.
Those heat pumps can cost anywhere from $3000 to $6,000 each, so it's no small loss.
A spokesperson for Arbor Homes, the company that built many homes in the neighborhood, said of the 798 houses they built last year they had over $200,000 worth of theft and property damage, including heat-pump thefts.
Arbor Homes has security around their sites, but it doesn't seem to be deterring the thieves, who are taking the pumps for the copper they have inside of them. The company hopes new security measures they are putting in place will help curb the problem.
