CHESTERVILLE — Police are investigating the theft of a pull-behind grader from a town gravel pit off Mace Road on Sunday or Monday.

Town officials reported Tuesday that the machine was parked behind a locked gate, which had the padlock cut, Lt. Niles Yeaton of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department said. The grader is valued at about $1,000.

Many similar thefts of metal are happening across the state, Yeaton said. Junk iron, old cars and trailers are being taken and end up at scrap metal dealers, he said.

abryant@sunjournal.com