MODESTO - The former employees of an abandoned aluminum manufacturing plant fear their personal files may be swiped by scrap scavengers.
The Indalex plant closed in 2008, but the owner cannot be found and the piles of employee information still remain inside.
"The sheriff needs to arrest these people (scrap strippers), but he won't do it," said one former employee who was on sight to try to find his personnel file.
The Stanislaus County sheriff said the problem is not law enforcement's since there is no victim available.
"The victim is the property owner - I can't arrest someone for a crime if there is no victim," said Sheriff Adam Christianson.
Christianson said the last he heard about the former owner was that he could be working at a company in Sweden. Indalex owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes to the county.
The Sheriff and county emergency services will meet Thursday at 7:00 a.m. in the Emergency Services building to discuss how they can help protect former employees from identity theft without becoming liable for what happens on private property.
News10/KXTV