Two men have been charged after police recovered over $500,000 dollars’ worth of items allegedly stolen from farms and businesses in Waterloo Region, Brantford and other locations.

In a joint effort Tuesday, Hamilton Police and Waterloo Regional Police carried out a number of search warrants at three locations in Lynden– a community northeast of Brantford, part of the City of Hamilton.

Most of the items police found at these locations were big ticket pieces used in farming and construction, including skid steers and excavators.

Const. Steve Welton from the Hamilton Police Service says that investigations like this start with the reporting of a crime and  communication between police groups; “The Waterloo Region Police Service and the Hamilton PoliceService identified a trend in stolen property that was occurring in South Western Ontario , specifically in our regions,” he said.

 “Like any investigation there are times when we share information among various units that are responsible for focusing their enforcement efforts and investigative efforts on these types of thefts involving heavy equipment, farm equipment, excavators and those types of pieces of property.”

The Waterloo Regional Police portion of the investigation began with a series of thefts in North Dumfries. Other stolen property was reported by victims in Hamilton and Brantford

Hamilton Police say that there were various techniques involved in figuring out who the suspects were. “From canvassing locations, suspect descriptions from witnesses, video surveillance and also having police officers make their own observations. All those things come into the totality of trying to stop, prevent and solve these types of crimes,” said Welton.

21-year-old Grant William Burlie  and  18-year-old Kurtis DeBoer, both from Lynden have been charged with numerous offences, including theft over $5000, break and enter and possession of stolen property.

Police believe there is still about $200,000 worth of stolen property related to this case that they have yet to find. Their investigations continue.