At about 8:42 p.m., March 4, Sumpter Township Police responded to a motorist’s report of a vehicle in a ditch in the 17000 block of Savage Road.
When Officers Phil Jablonski and Colleen Carefelle arrived they found a man in a Caterpillar backhoe trying to pull a vehicle out the ditch.
Officer Jablonski checked the vehicle identification number (VIN) on the backhoe and found it had been stolen from a construction site in Canton Township in 2008. Its worth was estimated at $26,000.
Sumpter Detective John Toth said when the vehicle was stolen in 2008, the thieves jumped a fence, started the backhoe, and then blew through the fence. It was loaded and disappeared.
He said police seldom have contact with backhoes in order to run the VINs. He said Officer Jablonski is considered the department’s “VIN Master” and so he knew exactly where to find the numbers to check.
Det. Toth said Sumpter was able to recover the backhoe, which now is owned by an insurance company. It was turned over to the Canton officer in the Western Wayne Auto Theft unit, who confirmed it was the stolen vehicle.
The two men who were with the backhoe are both Sumpter Township residents. They are being investigated by Canton Police for possible charges of receiving and concealing stolen goods, Toth said.
Toth said the two said they paid $29,000 for the backhoe, but could not immediately come up with a receipt. He said they may have legitimately purchased the backhoe, but since it was stolen they will lose their money.