Construction items also stolen from Mon, other states
A suspected thief was arrested by the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department earlier this month and at least one item was returned to its owner.
Ronald J. Lewellyn, 45, of Morgantown, was charged with transferring or receiving stolen property and altering a Vehicle Identification Number, Sheriff Perry Palmer said.
Multiple stolen items, including two trailers, construction equipment and a modified utility vehicle with an altered VIN were recovered at Lewellyn’s home on Tyrone Road, Palmer said.
Lewellyn was arrested and arraigned on April 8. He is free on $25,000 bond.
The items were reported stolen in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and from Preston, Harrison and Monongalia counties, Palmer said. Part of the ongoing investigation is tracking down the owners of those items.
One of those owners, Holly Sigley, said her trailer, a SureTrac 20-foot trailer/car hauler worth $5,000, was returned on Saturday. She said the sheriff’s department notified her of its recovery about a week earlier, but they couldn’t claim it because it was still “loaded down with other people’s stolen property.”
She said the trailer was stolen March 5 from a storage place on Saltwell Road, in Harrison County. The trailer is used by her husband, Woodrow, as part of his mobile truck repair business — Woodheads Truck Repair Service.
“We really didn’t think we would ever see it again and would have to pay off something that we didn’t have anymore,” Sigley said. “So, we’re thankful for the work of Deputy [S.] Neff, even though it’s a little upsetting and frustrating to have to pay the impound fees of $570.”
Sigley will have to request that money back by restitution when Lewellyn is prosecuted, she said.
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