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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- The Florida Highway Patrol is the latest police agency in Central Florida to lose an AR15 assault rifle to a car burglar.
The weapon disappeared last week in Orange County after a sergeant may have left his patrol vehicle unlocked and parked overnight, sheriff's reports show.
Sgt. Jeffrey Wright thought "he locked the vehicle with the remote but couldn't be certain that it was locked when he left the vehicle," a report states. A tow-truck driver discovered the theft early last Wednesday when he noticed the burglarized FHP vehicle on a residential street.
The semi-automatic .223-caliber weapon was outfitted with a special holographic sight to enhance rapid-fire accuracy. Also missing was body armor, a SWAT uniform, gas mask and more than $4,000 worth of speed-detection equipment.
In the past two years, Orlando police have lost four of the weapons to car burglars. And a submachine gun with a silencer was stolen with two other weapons from an Orange County SWAT team member's unmarked vehicle. Troopers are supposed to lock rifles and shotguns in trunks or store them at home when not on duty.
