Picture: Special to The Press-Enterprise in one case, a local grocer says it lost more than $2 million in pallets.

Over the years, San Bernardino County sheriff's rural crimes deputies have tracked down tractors, bulk cardboard and a spectrum of stolen metals from copper wire and bronze plaques to aluminum cans.

But one recent development surprised even them.

Plastic loading pallets used by grocery chains have vanished in large quantities lately, investigators said. One company claimed a $2.5 million loss.

"Our main focus has always been metals: the coppers and the cans," said sheriff's Deputy Roger Young. "Plastic recycling, we never paid too much attention to it. But we've been educated now."

The issue first came to their attention in May, when Trader Joe's, the ubiquitous Southern California specialty grocer, reported that in the prior 18 months it lost tens of thousands of the $30, injection-molded hard plastic pallets in San Bernardino County.

Young and Deputy Chris Wadkins were assigned to investigate and soon found that the retailer was leaving stacked pallets unattended behind its stores at all hours.

Surveillance was set up. Late last month, suspects were identified.

When they were stopped, Filemon Bernal, a 51-year-old Mira Loma resident, and Maria Acuna, a 44-year-old Rialto woman, had multiple marked Trader Joe's pallets in their trucks, officials said. Both have been charged with felony receiving stolen property.

Only a fraction of the stolen pallets have been recovered -- the others may have already been sold to plastic recyclers for anywhere from $2 to $10 each.

"We're going to recover more," Wadkins said. "The investigation is still widening."

Since, deputies have stepped up their checks of the area's plastic recyclers, saying they will enforce laws that make it illegal to knowingly scrap a company's branded pallets without their permission.

Trader Joe's officials did not return requests for comment. But another local grocery chain also reported increased pallet theft.

"This is something new," said Lilia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Albertson's. "It just shows that they're just like anything else that can be recycled."

The company's loss management leaders have reacted by emphasizing that store employees now keep the pallets inside the storewhen they're not in use.

"It's easy to inadvertently leave them out," Rodriguez said. "But now, it's a matter of getting our store teams to pay a little more attention."

Plastic pallets have gained popularity because of their durability, especially when compared to less-expensive wood options. But when they are stolen, an expected lifetime investment becomes a larger dollar loss.

In addition to Trader Joe's and Albertsons, deputies also recovered stolen U.S. Postal Service pallets.

"Theoretically it should only be a one-time cost," Wadkins said. "But it ends up costing them a fortune."

Since opening the Trader Joe's case, Young and Wadkins said they've learned the issue of plastic theft goes beyond pallets. A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy requested their help when numerous stolen Rockview Dairy milk crates were found in Rialto.

"The deputy told me, 'Right now, metal theft is well below the amount of plastic theft that's going on,'" Young recalled. "It's basically an unregulated industry."

But little-known, little-enforced sections of the California business and professions code make it illegal, specifically, to posses a bakery tray, basket or merchandise pallet marked with a company's name.

The penal code also allows for felony charges for anyone who takes "dairy equipment," including containers, valued at more than $950.

Unlike metal scrap yards, recyclers for large amounts of plastics are not very prevalent, deputies said, making it easier to track where stolen pallets and crates are showing up. At one area location, a supervisor said he is very careful not to accept suspicious items.

"We're cautious, but you do get some stuff sometime," said George Villalobos, general manager of Go Green Industries in Fontana. "But whenever they bring it in here, I return it right back. I don't want problems."

Villalobos said Wadkins recently visited his recycling yard searching for more Trader Joe's pallets. But Go Green does not accept plastic from the public, he said, especially since some of the victimized companies are his customers.

"I know what's going on and you have to watch out," he said. "But what they told me shocked me. Three million dollars in pallets? That's a lot of money."

Reach Paul LaRocco at 951-368-9468 or plarocco@PE.com