Business owner gets back half of stolen equipment, still offering reward

Saskatoon business owner Kevin Boychuk has recovered one of two pieces of equipment stolen off his company site earlier this summer.

Boychuk, the owner of K3 Excavating Company Ltd., said he had mixed emotions when police notified him that his Caterpillar loader was parked on a side road in the RM of Grant, southeast of Vonda.

“Somebody decided that it wasn’t a good idea to be holding on to this equipment, so that’s the good news” he said, adding the loader was retrieved with some scars but is still intact.

“The people that had it tried to change the markings on it, and grind off some decals.”

On June 23, the loader was stolen and driven right off of his site.

But Boychuk is still only halfway there, and he’s working with police to recover his Kenworth Gold tractor unit valued at around $125,000. It too was taken off his site on July 3.

The business owner said he’s hopeful someone will leave the tractor on the side of the road just like the loader.

“We’re a small family business, and we’re just wanting our equipment back,” he said.

Originally, Boychuk offered a $20,000 reward to anyone with a lead on where the stolen equipment could be found.

Since then, Boychuk said he’s received many comments from people saying they wouldn’t accept the reward money if they came across the equipment.

Still, Boychuk said he’s offering a reward of $10,000 for the remaining piece of equipment.

“Certainly, the value is worth it for us, and we’d be very happy to oblige anybody that had any information leading to the recovery,” he said.