Technician stranded on roof forced to watch while his tools are stolen

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — One blue-collar worker says he was forced to watch while his tools were stolen on Thursday.

The air conditioning repair tech snapped photos of the alleged criminals in action since he was stuck on the roof above. Anthony Pieri, a repair tech with Nextech in Lenexa, Kansas, said one of the alleged criminals kicked over his ladder, stranding him on the rooftop.

On Friday afternoon, Pieri showed off a broken window and dents on his work van where the break-in took place on Thursday. He said he was making Thursday afternoon repairs to a rooftop air conditioning unit on the roof of the Dollar Tree store in Kansas City, Missouri. He heard noises below and realized three people, including two men and a woman, were breaking into his van in the alley below.

“A big part of me wanted to jump off the roof and attack,” Pieri said.

Pieri snapped a series of photos of the incident, which he shared with Nexstar's FOX4 News, while he called 911. 

“He literally had my entire Milwaukee pack-out tool set stuffed into the trunk," said Pieri.

"My recovery machine, a lot of other stuff. To watch your livelihood, we have to provide our tools. That’s our livelihood.”

The van still shows damage from the break-in. Pieri and his supervisor, Lance Cantrell, said the company doesn’t provide these tools for employees. The workers do that out of their own pockets.

“We’d love to see his tools recovered," said Cantrell.

"That’s his livelihood. That’s how he makes his money. Without them, he has to pony up about a thousand dollars just to get back in the field."

Kansas City Police confirmed the incident. However, a police spokesperson said the car might have been stolen, and thereby, hard to use in tracking the driver.

Pieri said people who’ve seen these details online have contacted him with tips. The two repair techs said the criminals also took cans of refrigerants, the chemicals used to make air conditioners work.