Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Thieves Take $10,000 in Beef From a Truck on Devereaux Avenue, the Second Cargo Heist This Week

Thieves stole five pallets of beef worth about $10,000 from a parked tractor-trailer in Northeast Philadelphia early on Thursday while the driver slept in the cab, police said. It was the second theft of frozen food from a truck in the city this week.

Officers responded at about 4:12 a.m. to the 5200 block of Devereaux Avenue in the Wissinoming section of Northeast Philadelphia after the driver reported the theft, according to police accounts carried by NBC10 Philadelphia and FOX 29. The driver told officers he woke while sleeping in the cab and found people cutting the padlock on the rear of the trailer and loading products into their vehicles.

Police said the thieves took five pallets of beef valued at about $10,000. FOX 29 reported that at least three people took part. The driver recorded cellphone video as the group left in a dark gray Nissan sedan and two dark-colored SUVs, and police now have that video as part of the investigation.

Police check for a link to the snow crab theft

Investigators are working to determine whether Thursday's theft is connected to a similar heist early on Tuesday in Southwest Philadelphia. In that case, police said six men took two pallets of frozen snow crab, 50 boxes weighing about 3,000 pounds in all, from a tractor-trailer in the 3400 block of Island Avenue at about 4:57 a.m. while the driver slept. When the driver stepped out and confronted them, the men chased him down the street before fleeing in several vehicles, including a gray Ford F-150 pickup and a gray Dodge Caravan.

The pattern in the two cases is close. In both, a driver was asleep in the cab in the early morning hours, a trailer lock was cut or forced, and the thieves loaded frozen food into waiting vehicles and left within minutes. Police have not said the same people carried out both thefts, and no arrests in either case had been announced by Thursday afternoon.

A repeated problem for drivers in the city

Philadelphia has dealt with food cargo thefts from parked trucks for several years. Truckers News, which covers the trucking industry, reported after Tuesday's snow crab theft that thieves in the city have taken pork, crab and beef from parked trailers in a series of cases going back to 2024, including a theft of five pallets of ground beef valued at $40,000 about a year ago and a September theft of Black Angus beef ribs. Drivers often sleep in their cabs while waiting for morning deliveries, which leaves loaded trailers parked on industrial streets overnight.

Police said the investigation into Thursday's theft is ongoing. Anyone with information is typically asked to contact Philadelphia police, and detectives are expected to review the driver's video and any surveillance footage from businesses along the block.