"Man held in theft of $80,000 bulldozer" April 20, 2012|By Colin A. Young
A
Swansea man is facing a felony larceny charge in the theft of a
bulldozer that disappeared from a Rehoboth construction site Saturday
and turned up Wednesday more than 500 miles away in Pennsylvania, police
said.
Christian Wilson, 42, was arrested Wednesday at his home in
Swansea and charged with larceny over $250, Rehoboth police said. He is
accused of orchestrating the theft, hiring a trucking company to drive
the bulldozer from the Brook Street construction site to a commercial
building in a “very remote, rural area’’ in Franklin, Pa.
Lieutenant
James Trombetta of the Rehoboth police said the trucking company was
not involved in the theft of the bulldozer. They simply “got a call to
move a machine,’’ he said.
“Wilson met them at the residence,
helped them put the bulldozer on the low bed,’’ Trombetta said. “He had
made previous arrangements to transport it to Pennsylvania and paid them
cash for their services, so off they went.’’
Trombetta said police believe that Wilson acted alone and do not expect additional arrests in the case.
Brook
Street residents saw Wilson and the trucking company loading the
machine, estimated to be worth about $80,000, onto the flatbed truck,
Trombetta said, but did not think it was suspicious.
“Neighbors
witnessed the bulldozer being loaded onto a trailer and taken out of
there,’’ he said. “They didn’t think anything of it because it’s a new
home site, and the bulldozer was there doing the site work.’’
After
several media outlets reported the theft of the bulldozer, Rehoboth
police received numerous tips and were able to track down the driver who
had been hired to deliver it in Pennsylvania.
“We had a
conversation with the driver, who told us he brought it out there and
was told that someone would meet him and take him where they wanted the
’dozer dropped,’’ Trombetta said. “We were able to track the building
that he dropped the ’dozer off with Google Earth.’’
Within an hour, Trombetta said, Pennsylvania authorities had a helicopter in the air and had located the bulldozer.
The
bulldozer’s owner must arrange for its return trip to Massachusetts.
“At this point, it is the responsibility of the owner to go retrieve the
bulldozer,’’ he said. “Certainly, we would seek restitution in court
for whatever it cost him to bring it back.’’
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