Truckload of apple juice stolen from lot

DUNNELLON -- It had been a long haul for truck driver Jack Simmons.

He had transported more than 42,000 pounds of half-gallon jugs of Mott's apple juice from Lyons, N.Y., and was scheduled to deliver it to a distribution center in Lakeland the next day.

So Simmons, 57, decided to swing by his Dunnellon home to spend some time Wednesday night. Because there is a weight limit on the road outside his house, Simmons unhitched the trailer and left it where he usually does: an empty lot about 2 miles from his house, across from the Handy Way Food Store at 8486 Carl G. Rose Highway (State Road 200).

But when he returned to the lot at 6 a.m. Thursday, the trailer was gone. Someone had peeled off with his apple juice.

"I about had a heart attack," Simmons said.

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office was contacted and immediately put out an all-points bulletin for the trailer, said Ronda Hemminger Evan, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

Investigators estimate the trailer was taken sometime between 11 p.m. Wednesday and 4:30 a.m. Thursday, when the first Handy Way employees arrived at work and noticed the trailer was gone.

Simmons said he has been parking the trailer in the empty lot for the past five years and hadn't experienced any problems.

"It was never broken into; there's never been any mischief of any kind," he said.

Who would commit such a crime? This much is certain: The thief had to own a semitruck and possess the skills to hitch the trailer to his rig, Evan said.

"We're asking the community to help us in any way possible," Evan said.

The trailer is white, with the name of the trucking company, Sun State Carriers, stenciled on the back in black lettering. The Florida license plate number is C0862F.

If the thief is caught, he or she could face a big squeeze: The refrigerated trailer is valued at $45,000 and the juice is worth about $25,000, Evan said. That constitutes grand theft, a first-degree felony.

As for Simmons, after seven years as a driver, he was fired by Sun State Carriers on Thursday for leaving his cargo unattended overnight.

"I guess I'll just have to look for another job," Simmons said.

A person who answered the phone at Sun State, which is based in Tavares, declined to comment on the case.

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 726-4488 or 1-888-ANYTIPS.

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