A beach trip like no other

A Park Hills man is charged with crimes in several states following what appears to have been an Eastern U.S. road trip that started in Farmington and ended in Daytona Beach, Fla., with stops to commit crimes along the way.

Officers with the Daytona Beach Police Department arrested the 39-year-old Park Hills man, whose name is not being released pending the filing of formal charges, on Oct. 7 as he was driving a stolen truck through a known drug-laden neighborhood. The Farmington Police Department had applied for warrants for crimes he was accused of committing nearly a week earlier.

According to records, the Farmington Police took a report on a stolen green 1998 GMC truck on Oct. 2. The owner reported he had noticed his truck missing from near his home several hours earlier, but first suspected a relative had borrowed it. When he discovered that wasn’t the case he immediately called the police.

On the same day an officer took a report on a vehicle burglary in which a credit card had been stolen. The theft happened a short distance from where the truck had been stolen around the same time.

The officer traced activity on the stolen credit card and learned it had been used to pay for fuel at a convenience store in a neighboring community. A check of the store’s surveillance footage showed a male wearing a red cap purchasing fuel at the pump and pumping  the gas into a green 1998 GMC truck. Over the next couple days the card was monitored. It was used again in Steele, Mo., and then again in Tennessee.

Then a break in the case came when Daytona Beach officers stopped the truck with Missouri license plates in a neighborhood known for drug activity. A license check revealed the truck had been stolen from Farmington. The driver was arrested and searched. Officers found a quantity of marijuana, along with small electronic devices and credit cards reported stolen in Mississippi and Florida.

The man, who gave a Park Hills address, is to be charged in Florida with possession of stolen property, possession of a stolen vehicle and possibly drug charges.

Farmington officers are applying for warrants on charges of felony stealing a motor vehicle and tampering with a motor vehicle.