COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A 60-ton crane worth more than $500,000 was stolen Monday morning from a construction site in south Columbus, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

The 2019 Kenworth Long Boom National Crane was stolen at about 8 a.m. from the area of Parsons Avenue near the Eldorado Casinos at Scioto Downs, authorities said.

“It’s a very valuable piece of equipment worth over in excess of $500,000, so, someone stole the crane from the site,” Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bill Duffer said. “Unfortunately, the keys had been left in it.”

In a Facebook post announcing the theft, the sheriff’s office said the thieves likely had experience with this type of equipment.

“They pulled the plates off, left it on the ground and, they actually pulled the GPS out of it, too,” Duffer said. “So they broke the GPS unit out of it. So, whoever took this crane would have knowledge that, you know, a piece of equipment that valuable was obviously going to be GPS’d.”

The crane, owned by the Kent Power Company, sells for about $1 million brand new.

“There is a black market out there for everything, so, yeah, they’re going to either take it probably to another state or, you know, somewhere else in the country and try to sell it, use it there. Maybe they’ll strip it down,” Duffer said. “A piece of equipment that big would be hard to hide. You know, it’s going to stand out.”

Manuel Gutierrez Jr., administrative manager for the Ohio Operating Engineers Apprenticeship and Training Fund, said driving a 60-foot boom crane wouldn’t be as difficult as people may expect.

“So if you get one, you have to figure out how to get the thing started, the truck, and since it’s a boom truck, it’s a little easier,” Gutierrez said. “It’s basically knowing how to drive and shift or which would be if it was driving shift. Have to know how to use the clutch, how to shift gears, and or if it’s one of the newer trucks. A lot of these come with automatics. So you gotta do automatic transmissions. So once you fire it up, you have to know how to release your parking brake. A little basic knowledge goes a long way.”

The sheriff’s office said anyone who sees the crane is asked not to follow or approach it and instead call the sheriff’s office at 614-525-3351.