Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Thieves Take $3 Million in Aircraft Parts From Company : Crime: The heist is the largest in a series at the Valencia industrial park during recent months.

More than $3 million worth of aluminum castings and other items used to make cargo planes was stolen from two storage trailers in the Valencia Industrial Center, apparently by burglars looking to sell it as scrap metal, authorities said Tuesday.

The burglary is by far the largest in a series of about 10 similar heists at the aircraft supply company and other businesses in the industrial center during recent months, according to sheriff’s officials. Thefts of aluminum window pieces, electric wire on large spools and other metallic equipment has ranged in value from $150 to $30,000.

“It’s definitely some type of organized effort,” said Deputy John Mundell of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

In the past six weeks burglars have hit several warehouses in the industrial center at least five times.

Sheriff’s investigators have leads in the burglaries, but no suspects.

Four other burglaries have occurred since mid-May at Jay-Dee Aircraft Supply Co., the firm broken into over the weekend, said General Manager Rusty Werth. He said little was stolen during the first three break-ins, but the multimillion-dollar heist that occurred over the weekend will be hard to absorb.

“We couldn’t replace it all right now,” he said. “There’s no way. We’re a small company.”

He said employees arriving about 7 a.m. Monday found a gate open and the padlocks cut off two 40-foot storage trailers behind the building. About half the castings, braces and other items inside the trailers were stolen. The firm sells aircraft parts to small manufacturers.

The toolings were used to make much of the framing for Convair 580 airplanes, an older cargo plane used mostly by foreign countries, Werth said.

“We’re talking about little toolings that could fit in a shoe box,” he said.

Two pickup trucks or one medium-size commercial flatbed truck would be needed to haul off the 3,000 pounds of metal, Werth said. While the company estimates the items are worth more than $3.2 million, sheriff’s officials estimate a scrap dealer would only pay about 92 cents a pound for them.

Stolen parts are usually cut up so they cannot be recognized and sold to scrap dealers in the Los Angeles area, said Carl McCraven, a commercial theft investigator for the Sheriff’s Department. He said dozens of similar thefts occur at businesses each year, but only one or two as large as that at Jay-Dee Aircraft.

The smaller thefts earlier this year at the aircraft factory may have been a scouting mission for the larger theft, McCraven added.