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Target 11: Public Works items reported missing mysteriously reappear

PITTSBURGH — Target 11 has been reporting on missing and damaged items from the mayor’s office and the Department of Public Works for months. On Friday, Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle learned some of the missing items have mysteriously reappeared.

Earle reported four items, including power equipment used by the Redd Up crew, that had been reported missing recently turned up.

City officials told Earle a generator, a hedge trimmer, a pruner and a weedwacker all recently appeared.

“Four have reappeared and hopefully more will start showing up as well,” Mayor Bill Peduto said.

After Peduto took office, he disbanded the Redd Up crew and the city began an inventory and discovered the missing equipment. The city initially identified 17 pieces of power equipment that were missing.

Authorities said the remaining missing items are $7,000 worth of chainsaws, generators, trimmers and leaf blowers.

“It’s public tax dollars, but it's an understanding within the workforce. 99 percent of the people who work for the city of Pittsburgh are honest, they are hard-working, and they do their jobs with great care,” Peduto said. “But those that try and take something that isn't theirs, there has to be a signal put out that that type of behavior is no longer going to be looked over in city government.”