Burglary Targets Longtime Woodworking Shop Along the Avenue of the Giants
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- Work shelves lay in disarray after burglars helped themselves to Bernie’s tools.
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- The chainsaw rack sits empty after a burglary at the beloved shop in Miranda.
A burglary at Korbly Wood Products in Miranda has left a long-established family business facing a significant loss, after thieves stole tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of tools and hand-crafted wooden pieces made over decades by local woodworker Bernie Korbly.
The theft was discovered when family members arrived at the shop and found it had been forcibly entered. “They took a screwdriver and popped open the front door,” said Sierra Korbly, Bernie Korbly’s daughter. She said the intruders also accessed the shop by breaching a privacy fence and entering from the back.
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- a black mask was left laying in the dirt behind the shop on the Avenue of the Giants.
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- Stolen wares were likely loaded into an awaiting vehicle behind the shop after burglars gained entry through a fence.
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- a small down-jacket, apparently left behind by the burglars.
Once inside, thieves removed both equipment and finished work. “They took four or five saws. They took all of our sanders… all the sandpaper and the wood glue and wood putty and finishes,” Sierra said. “They took all the charcuterie boards but one… probably 15 to 20 boxes… There is one big bistro table that’s missing, [it’s] probably close to a $6,000 table.”
A slightly larger “sister cut” table was stolen from Korbly Wood Products last week.
Many of the stolen items are distinctive and potentially identifiable. “A lot of this stuff has an engraved insignia on the back, and then some of them also have JF JS initials,” Sierra said. “I feel like there’s nobody up here doing this kind of work, besides my dad in this area.”
Korbly Wood Products was founded by Bernie Korbly in the early 1970s and has operated in Miranda since the late 1970s, becoming a familiar stop along the Avenue of the Giants for custom furniture, bowls, boxes, tables, and other hand-crafted wooden pieces. Following Bernie Korbly’s death, the shop has been closed as the family determines what to do with the business and its future.
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- Emptied shelves greet the grieving family dealing with the loss of their patriarch and now his handcrafted wares.
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- The walls of Korbly Wood Products were full of wooden wares for sale until burglars helped themselves to the closed business in its founder’s passing.
For Sierra, the theft represents more than financial loss. “It sucks about the tools and everything that got stolen, but the sentimental value of the pieces,” she said. “My dad built this business from nothing, and it was one of the greatest loves of his life.”
The family estimates the total loss at tens of thousands of dollars. “They took thousands and thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and tools. I mean, tens of thousands,” Sierra said, noting that a single missing table alone was valued at more than $6,000.
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- Items stripped from walls and shelves were left stacked near the back door as if the burglars would be back for more.
Since discovering the burglary, the family has begun notifying local businesses and second-hand shops as well as filing a burglary report with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
Community members are asked to be on the lookout for high-quality wooden items consistent with Korbly’s distinctive craftsmanship — particularly charcuterie boards, bowls, boxes, and large tables — especially those bearing engraved markings or initials, and to report any suspicious sightings or sales to local authorities or by contacting Sierra at 707-943-3615.
The Korbly family asks that the community to be on the lookout for anyone trying to pawn or sell wood products with the Korbly or JS JF stamps.
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Wow, horrible. Likely a local tweeker. Hope you stuff is recovered!
IMHO:
Too much work for local tweakers.
Bigger redwood items were likely hustled into a trailer… and headed for SF and LA.
Well for the past 3 years sohum tweakers have had nothing but time amd yes they clean out places it’s super lame I’m sure the cops know where ,I found that the sohum tweak ring from garb to redway to shelter cove is connected to hydesville and feildbrook tweakers,I know because I had to recover a trailer of mine that was stolen
Was your trailer recovered in Fieldbrook? The big meth ring house there had a bunch of stolen property recovered there over the last 8 years. A few still lurking out there currently. The old owner came there from Rio Dell and brought his crew along. Most are now dispersed or incarcerated thankfully.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Can they notify businesses /law enforcement down south?
There’s some Flock cameras along the way.
Way too sophisticated for local tweakers. This is a serious crime done by experienced and practiced thieves with a big truck. Absolutely terrible. So sorry for the family and our whole community.
Not really. There would have been no “Items stripped from walls and shelves were left stacked near the back door as if the burglars would be back for more.” if that were true.
I am so sorry for both of your losses. It adds such a blow to have your Dad’s lifelong works and tools stolen. So many people remember your Dad and his beautiful creations. I’m praying that the burglars are caught and brought to justice!
The burgles are your neighbors.
Think how far the depths of depravity people have come to.
Shitty. Hope the shitbag thief/thieves are caught and punished to the greatest extent possible. If they’re locals, I hope their identities are widely shared so everyone knows who they are and how shitty they are. Hope the tools and art are recovered and returned to their rightful owners.
didnt this shop have things stolen from it a couple years back? With it sitting vacant like that for so long after the previous robbery it shocks me that these items weren’t removed and stored long ago. A few wireless cameras with alerts to the owners phone would have likely prevented both robberies or at least made the owners aware that someone was there.It doesn’t look like anyone has lived there since the place closed and unfortunately in this area you can’t just leave things like that or this eventually happens. It is sad to see the things stolen from Bernie’s shop but what measures were being taken to prevent this? With how tweakers are in this county I’m actually shocked it made it that long without it happening sooner.
With the mask left behind there may be DNA that could identify at least one of the thieves.
and the down jacket!
When my house was burglarized and a lot of valuable tools and jewelry taken, the sheriff’s office told me they don’t take fingerprints anymore.
California LEO couldn’t care less unless someone is killed, assaulted, or (if you’re lucky) doing something with a high fine. They barely came out to take a report when I had $3000 worth of large tools like air compressors and generators I couldn’t afford to replace stolen. I doubt that they even checked pawn shops or Didn’t hear a word about it afterwards (Insurance is the Criminal Financial Support Department in California).
I would ck the Oakland Flea Market & the San Jose Flea Market.
I would also stop by the Myers Flat Antique shop, with photos of the stolen wood work & ask the owners, to keep an eye out, when they go to these 2 flea markets & other Bayarea shopping locations.
I hope you will catch the thieves.
Good advice, when my pop’s tools were stolen he found them at the local flea market and was able to get them back and have the thieves arrested.
Likely for sale on eBay, Facebook, etc these days.
Fucking scumbags!
As someone who is in the process of opening a business on Ave of the Giants, this is not what I want to hear before I even get everything set up. With that said, I agree with the sentiments shared by the people here. These were not the actions of a single tweaker, they were the actions of someone who was rather sophisticated. They had cased the place out long enough to know that they weren’t coming in after a quick grab of a few bucks, but after something that required the fence to be taken apart so they could load items into their waiting truck. They knew the value of the items in question, which means that they had knowledge of what they were stealing, which implies that they are either experienced in this field, or they were sent by someone who was. Either way, this was not your local tweaker stealing something to sell to get high. They would have been much more disorganized. This also means that you are not going to see these items locally. Someone who went through this much planning and effort isn’t someone who is dumb enough to sell their wares locally. I can guarantee you that those items are all far away from here. With that said, they were pretty dumb to leave that much evidence behind and I truly hope that our local law enforcement uses some of those sophisticated tools that our tax dollars have funded over the years to identify and prosecute them. Moving forward, let this be a learning lesson for everyone else. There are some things that we can learn moving forward. Motion activated cameras that save their data in the cloud, floodlights operating on solar, and a modem that uses cellular signal and a battery back up are among the list of things that will preserve evidence of them coming in, if nothing else, and the camera will also send out an alert, notifying you that someone was detected. This, of course, does nothing to undo what was done, but for others, perhaps they can learn from it and prevent a repeat. As someone who now lives down here, I will be stopping by to show my support.
Wouldn’t you also agree that the perpetrators knew what to grab before hand, as in they had been there before and were familiar with the premises and the layout of the property?
That is why I would conclude it is someone the family and friends(?) knows that would be suspect.
I absolutely agree that it is someone who has been in there before, someone with intimate knowledge of the contents of that location. They knew enough to know how to enter in a way that provided them with cover and time to perfect their escape, they knew enough to bring a truck capable of hauling away a large number of items, and they knew enough to hit it at a time when no one was paying attention, i.e., the off-peak season. I am guessing that they also knew that there weren’t any serious security measures in place there. All of this suggests someone that, when the culprits are finally located and apprehended, we are going to find out that at least one of them was someone who, at a minimum, frequented the place on a regular basis. I would advise the owners to look at their list of regulars, friends and associates, customers, etc., and see if there is someone who used to come in on a regular basis who is suddenly not coming around as much. Or who just made a significant purchase. And if it is a local, I can guarantee you that they are reading these comments. Who knows? Maybe they will be dumb enough to pull that shit in my establishment. If so, it will be their last attempt. As Rich Sauer stated in his comment “[t]his is exactly why people come up missing in Humboldt County.” We work hard for the little we have, and if someone wants to take it from us, we have every right to fight to keep it. End of story.
You guys misunderestimate the Tweakers in this area. There have been several local houses that have been looted lately three on my hill alone once the owners left the area or died, all done by tweakers sometimes over several days. There’s also been a rash of job site robberies involving tools and such.
I agree. They’re not all stupid.
True, although there are plenty of dim-witted meth-heads, we can’t paint with a broad brush– the only thing they all really have in common is they want more of that horribly destructive drug. But i’ve known some very bright (otherwise) people who have taken to the stuff. There’s a certain kind of energetic, hyper-focused intelligence that loves the meth high. I would not rule out local tweakers. However, i do think even the dullest of them would not try to sell locally. Certainly not online where everyone and their brother would see it, share it, save it, etc.
In the tweaker trashbin this has been the same story for 40 years. And nothing has changed but the motion sensors on spot lights and game cameras are better. Used to be that it was only guns and music instruments that tweakers took. Not No More. Why are we having to be so exposed to ACTUAL crime when it seems there are lot of armed, masked, thugish enforcers in tame neighborhoods where they they are not needed or wanted. Topsy turvy. Vote the MAGA out. And prepare for robberies with cameras.
Seems like the Avenue has a band of thieves as this isn’t the first time tools and stuff have been taken. Don’t leave anything out on a job, or lose tools and materials. Cameras are cheaper than losing valuable items. This is just shameful and I’m so sorry for the family! Horrible people do this stuff.
This is exactly why people come up missing in Humboldt County. Karma has a funny way of biting back. Hopefully you find out who it is and serve justice
This place was robbed of slabs a few years ago. Unfortunately you can’t leave businesses and property’s vacant like that and expect it to be fine. Sounds like a few hundred dollars worth of security cameras would have saved these people tens of thousands. What was being done to prevent this?
There are several businesses in Miranda, plus Miranda High and the Post Office.
Seems like there should be surveillance footage available…
Man If I catch these thieves out here in Mendo wildlands, they will hightail it out for their lives. I am mad as hell and they are in serious swampy muck with me.
Thieves and Liars are at the top of my hate list, but tool Thieves are the lowest form of humans.
Probably those theiving tweeker brothers up fruitland.