Cargo Theft: The New Highway Robbery

At twilight on June 17, 2009, Ricky Gene McNew pulled his plum-red big rig into a TravelCenters of America (TA) truck stop in Denmark, Tenn. McNew had been driving all afternoon, starting from Louisville (Ky.), and hauling $10 million in pharmaceuticals. He was bound for Memphis, to the warehouse of a medical supply wholesaler. McNew filled his tank and headed into the truck stop for a shower. When he came out, his truck was gone.

The thieves had stolen goods worth about 100 times the average taken in a bank robbery, and there wasn't a single witness. McNew's cell phone had been inside the truck, along with the spare key, so he had to go into the cashier to call his dispatcher. The dispatcher called the owner of the trucking company, Steadfast Transcontinent.