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National Scrap Metal Theft and Scam!!!!

With the astronomical rise in the scrap metal values such as Aluminum, Copper, Brass and even lead the thieves have come out of the wood work. The theft of scrap metals comes in many shapes from stealing catalytic converters, Air Conditioning units to the theft of scrap metals from businesses.

The week of May 11th thru 15th a Indianapolis local Indoor Shooting Range was a victim of a new form of scrap metal theft - Scammers?

The following is our story:

Our management team was approached by two men known to them as Nicke Mitchel and Victor Hill believed to be from Southwest Texas who in January 2008 harvested the bullets from our range. They paid us in what we believe was good faith. So when they called the beginning of May to harvest our bullets offering us 8 cents a pound and committed to having the work done in no more than 2 1/2 days we agreed.

The team of Victor and Nicke arrived on Monday the 11th with a crew of local day labors to harvest the bullets from our rubber back stop. All went well on Monday with a promise to arrive by 9am on Tuesday. They did not arrive until late morning however the day labors worked like dogs until 10pm at night with a promise from Victor to return 9am in the morning to finish throwing the rubber on the backstop. Apparently they had harvested all the lead they needed.

Wednesday morning, no show-  no call - finally in late afternoon Nicke called to say the day laborers could not be found due to the rain and would be in 1st thing in the morning. He also stated he was now in Ohio on business.

Thursday am no show - attempted to call Victor on the cell number given and finally got thru mid- afternoon, He stated that he will have a crew over right away to finish. Early evening the day labor crew arrived to work expecting the Family Indoor Shooting Range to pay them.  We finally got thru to Victor and Nicke to express our extreme displeasure over the entire situation and wanting to know where our money was for the bullets. He stated he only pulled 33,000 lbs of bullets (More later on this point).

The day labor crew came back on Friday 9am and still no Nick or Victor, we paid the labor crew $400.00 to finish the job so we can get back into business.

We attempted to contact Victor on his cell phone (817)805-2904 all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday with no answer and could not leave a message as he had not set up a voice mail with AT&T. Finally on Monday the owner called him on a phone with an number unfamiliar to Victor.

He apologized all over himself and gave Mrs. Hilton (Owner) the phone number for Nicke Mitchel. The First attempt to call (817) 902-2876 with no answer, the 2nd attempt was no answer Mrs. Hilton left a voice mail demanding payment for bullets and lost income.

Two days later without a response from either Victor or Nicke we made one more attempt which yielded us a conversation with a young lady who identified herself as Nicke's secretary. We explained the situation at her request and she stated that she would have Nicke call us back the same day.

It is now Friday May 23, 2009 and neither phone number will answer when called. We can only presume they do not intend to pay us and have stolen our scrap metal and time lost.

Bottom Line:

These guys harvested bullets from our range without paying us - They took more than the agreed 2 1/2 days causing the range to lose over $2800.00 in range rentals, not including ammunition sales.

Victor stated they only harvested 33,000 pounds from the range that has not been cleaned in over 15 months. The last time they harvested the range they took out over 45,000 lbs for only 9 months of use. This time their work crew completely filled at least 6 to 7 Gaylord tubs. Each gaylord is twice the size of the tubs we have filled in the past. We informed Nicke that the tubs we used when fully loaded could not be picked up with a 10,000lb rated fork lift without tipping it on end. We conservatively estimate the lead to be over 65,000lbs.

May 29th  Victor's number is no answer and Nick's is disconnected. If you know where to find these guys let us know.

June 4th 2009  - Still no answer on Victor's phone without option to leave a message. The Number for Nicke is now active again, however no answer. We left another message demanding our money for stolen lead and lost business.

SUSPECTS:

#1 Nicke Mitchel (Spelling and name not confirmed) Age: approx 40 yrs of age Weight: 270-290 Height: 5'9 Dark eyes ( glasses) and hair, bald on top Race: Professes to be Greek, however looks Hispanic, Dark complexion, speaks with a slight lisp - Now suspected to be a gypsy. When speaking to people he refers to them as Mr. "First Name" as in 'Mr. Mike" Believed to be from Southwest Texas Area (Not verified)

#2 Victor Hill (Spelling and name not confirmed) Age: approx 27 yrs of age Weight: 160-180 Height: 5'7 Dark eyes and hair Race: Professes to be Greek, however looks Hispanic, Dark complexion- Now suspected to be a gypsy.   Believed to be from Southwest Texas Area (Not verified)