Thousands of pounds of aluminum stolen from Omaha company

Crooks stole thousands of pounds of metal on two separate occasions since late Tuesday at a warehouse near 89th and F streets.

The warehouse, formally the historic Pamida building, will soon be the headquarters for the company Sympateco. The company was using the metal for a renovation project.

"I'm trying to restore it back to its glory in the '60s and I'm looking for iconic things that I can put on the building, and I thought this would be an awesome opportunity to repurpose these really cool fins that are on the outside," said Sympateco President Curt Brannon.

He bought the pieces from the Salvation Army building on 30th and Cuming streets before it was being torn down.

"We hauled them over here and stacked them in the back of the building, and then theft happened," said Brannon.

Around 40 panels were taken last Tuesday, but the thieves came back for more this weekend.

"Over the holiday, they came back and hit it again, moved the concrete barriers, and this time took over 200 of them," Brannon said.

Police do have a person of interest for the first theft. Two reports stated that more than 10,000 pounds of aluminum was taken, with a scrap value around $10,000.

Brannon said that it would cost $300,000 to buy these same pieces new, which is why they are trying everything to get them all back intact.

"I went over to every scrap location in town, just giving them pictures and letting them know what we're looking for and the value of it," said Sympateco CFO Don Nelson.

Sympateco said they'll still continue on with the project, but with the missing pieces, it could delay its completion.

Sympateco does design, architecture and manufacturing for franchises, including Sports Clips and Scooter's Coffee.