UTAH COMPUTERS STOLEN Company offers $5,000 reward for stolen tool - Salt Lake Tribune:

Company offers $5,000 reward for stolen tool

By Sheena Mcfarland

The Salt Lake Tribune

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Company offers $5,000 reward for stolen tool

By Sheena Mcfarland

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 10/08/2009 06:29:08 PM MDT

A Salt Lake City scrap metal company is offering a no-questions-asked $5,000 reward for an item stolen from their warehouse Wednesday.

Thieves broke the front office window, cut the alarm wires and stole several computers and printers. They also took a Niton Alloy Analyzer gun worth $35,000. The handheld device looks like a stun gun and emits a small amount of radiation to determine the amounts of various components of metal.

The gun is worthless to anyone outside of the company as it is password-protected, and it's registered with the state due to the radiation emission.

'There are a lot of good people, and we just hoping someone finds this in a field or something because the thieves probably tossed it after they opened the case,' said Kimberly Nelson, co-owner of Nelson Scrap Metal, located at 625 Iron Rose Place (3800 West) in West Valley City.

She said the thieves probably thought the case was a laptop as it was tucked away beneath a desk.

To add to the problem, Nelson called her insurance company after the theft and found out they just had canceled the policy on her company, and sent the letter out just that day.

'Our total loss here is $75,000,' she said. 'We just really need that alloy gun back.'