Business owner out hundreds of thousands after vandals hit building

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A local business owner is out hundreds of thousands of dollars after vandals destroyed one building and set fire to another one.

It happened at a recycling plant on Valley Hill Road. The business owner says she believes it was a random act.

"I never thought someone would have the audacity, the nerve, to take out a whole building," Lasonya Cato told us.

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The destroyed buildings and damaged equipment are painful images for her. She said a rash of expensive vandalism at her Henry County recycling yard has caused about $400,000 in damage.

"We haven't been able to make anything since Oct. 22," Cato said.

Surveillance video showed three suspects sneaking onto her property. One person had a machete as the three snooped around the front entrance of OAR Agricultural Recycling.

The video was recorded on the same day Cato said her firewood warehouse exploded, her trailer was moved and damaged and a storage building came crumbling down.

"I would have never thought that someone would have the audacity, the nerve, to take out a whole building," Cato said.

Henry County police are investigating after Cato said the vandals used a $90,000 skid-steer loader to demolish one of the buildings.

She also said they used hydraulic fluid in the building to set fire to the warehouse that stores firewood to be sold.

"When it wasn't burning fast enough, (they) decided to throw cans of ether on it, which caused a large explosion," Cato said.

It's the eighth time in two years she's reported vandalism to police. Each time, it's done by a different group she says is not affiliated with the business.

Now, she hopes the video can lead to arrests and an end to this nightmare.

"I pray they are caught so no other family, no business owner, has to go through this again," Cato said.

Cox Media Group