Two thieves at a Pinellas Park (FL) defunct mobile home park got more than they bargained for when they decided to steal a few windows from the remaining homes in the park. When the two unidentified men ripped 25-30 windows and doors from the trailers last week, what they found was lots of damaged asbestos insulation.

Doug Summers, owner of the former Summers Mobile Home Park in this Gulf Coast town, told police a “serious incident” had occurred at the park on March 17th and that the thieves “caused the release of asbestos-containing materials.”

The asbestos was used as insulation around the windows and became exposed when the caulking that sealed it was stripped away by thieves, said Mike Gustafson, Pinellas Park City Manager. He added that this wasn’t the first case of theft at the decrepit park but was the only one that involved asbestos and asbestos exposure.

“Right now, you have a waiting period,” Gustafson added. “The asbestos likely does not threaten any neighbors,” he said. “I can’t believe there’s any asbestos floating around.”

Gustafson said that Summers will be financially responsible for the abatement, which should occur soon, immediately followed by demolition of the remainder of the mobile home park. The city now owns the land, which will be used for a retention pond connected with drainage improvements along Park Boulevard, but Summers was leasing it until the city takes control.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 12:42 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.