stolen property

By AMANDA R. BRADLEY

Staff Writer

Published Aug. 20, 1999

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department was busy this week bringing in $60,500 worth of stolen property recovered in Pike County.

According to Sheriff Russell Thomas, three different investigations by Robert Bradbury and Frank Wheeler have resulted in five stolen items being recovered and identified by the property owners.

"On July 28 it was reported to the Pike County Sheriff’s Department that a theft had occurred at the Montgomery Hunting Club located on Route 3 in Troy in the Mt. Moriah community," said Thomas. "We received information that a person or people were in possession of the missing property and after interviewing four individuals the property was recovered."

The property recovered was a Kawasaki Mule model 2500, an all-terrain vehicle, and a Yamaha four-wheeler, both valued at $7,000. The mule was recovered in woods near the Mt. Gilard Cemetery and the four-wheeler was found under a barn on a dirt road near the Ansley community. It appeared to the Sheriff’s Department the suspects had attempted to alter the vehicle identification number on the four-wheeler.

During this same time period property was recovered that had been stolen out of Montgomery County.

"We recovered a John Deere 310-D backhoe/front-end loader valued at $50,000 in Carter Cemetery off of County Road 5 near the Montgomery County line and the Shady Grove/Briar Hill community," said Thomas.

According to Thomas the suspects had removed the VIN off of the loader, but it could be viewed using a special chemical solution.

The Sheriff’s Department recovered a stolen hydraulic hay dolly, also out of Montgomery County.

Tuesday a two-horse trailer was found in the Orion community valued at $3,500. The property owner had reported it stolen and has since identified and re-claimed the trailer. The VIN was also missing on the trailer.

"I would like to compliment our investigators on their hard work in all of these investigations," said Thomas.

Arrests are still impending on these thefts and the investigations are ongoing until an arrest is made.