Thieves targeting Fastenal tool stores, cops say

By Associated Press

For the AJC

Thieves in the South have been targeting a Minnesota-based tool supply company, and police are wondering why a specific company's stores are being burglarized.

One of the most recent thefts occurred Sunday night or early Monday morning at a Fastenal store in Athens, the fifth such burglary within about a week, police said.

A Fastenal store in Watkinsville was hit Sunday. Three others were broken into the previous Sunday in Augusta, Martinez and Aiken, S.C., The Athens Banner-Herald reported.

Officers have been told that about a dozen Fastenal stores had been burglarized in the Atlanta metro area, Athens-Clarke County police Lt. Mike McKeel said.

McKeel says he can't recall any one company being targeted like Winona, Minn.-based Fastenal has in the recent crime spree.

"It's crazy," McKeel said. "I can't think of any one company that (thieves) have seemingly targeted before like this."

A company representative did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press.