Pamplin Media Group
A trailer with two telescopes inside, including a 14-foot-long custom telescope, was reported stolen.
Authorities are asking for the public s help in locating a trailer containing two valuable telescopes that was reported stolen from the Laurelwood area this week.
The Washington County Sheriff s Office said a rural property owner reported a 1997 Wells Cargo enclosed trailer he had been storing went missing overnight. He discovered it was gone on Thursday, March 11.
Among the items in the trailer was a 14-foot-long telescope valued at $15,000, the sheriff s office said. The telescope was custom-built, and the owner had reportedly been working on it for decades.
Beloved telescopes stolen from Carlton couple
Updated Mar 13, 2021;
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Since he was a kid, Forrest Babcock has always been focused on the sky.
The optical engineer has had a longtime love for astronomy and has poured thousands of hours into building and rebuilding telescopes.
On Wednesday night, however, two of those telescopes were stolen from the rural property
near the Washington-Yamhill County line
where Babcock kept them.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said someone broke the lock on a forest green 1997 Wells Cargo enclosed trailer with a ramp door, nabbing a pair of prized telescopes worth over $16,000.
Deputies are now searching for the thieves. And Babcock and his wife, Janet Zuelke, said the telescopes hold more sentimental and community value than can ever be replaced.