On August 3 the [Illinois Emergency Management] Agency's Radiation Duty Officer was contacted after normal business hours and advised that a portable
moisture density gauge had been reported
stolen from a vehicle at approximately 5
PM that same day. The caller was an officer with the Chicago Police Department who was investigating the event. The vehicle had been parked on the south side of Chicago, IL in front of the field technician's house at the time of the theft. The company's [H.H. Holmes] radiation safety officer contacted the [Illinois Emergency Management] Agency the next morning to report additional details of the theft. Evidence at the crime scene showed that the door to the SUV had been jimmied open with a crowbar and the chain which was looped through the handles of the transport case in the back of the vehicle had been pried from the case such that the lid could be opened and the
gauge removed. Additional tools, a cell phone, the radio and personal equipment was also
stolen from the vehicle. The company was in the process of acquiring additional information and compiling crime scene photos to include with the formal report.
Pending receipt of that report and follow up action from the Chicago Police Department, the [Illinois Emergency Management] Agency is continuing its investigation and considers the matter open.
The stolen gauge was manufactured by Troxler (model number 3440, serial number 34692). The gauge contained a sealed source with 0.008 Ci of CS-137 (serial number 102112) and another sealed source with 0.04 Ci of Am-Be (serial number 47-30325).
Illinois report number - IL0900059
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Sources that are "Less than
IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as
moisture density gauges or thickness
gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.