Police pulled him over driving a backhoe at midnight. Now he's accused of stealing it from the DOT
A Warwick man driving a backhoe at 11:30 on a January night behind a DPW building aroused suspicion, and now he's charged with stealing it from the state Department of Transportation.
The 59-year-old man allegedly told the state police he took the 1998 John Deere backhoe from the DOT facility in Johnston. He said he drove to the State House, where he left it parked "for a couple of days" before moving it to the Providence DPW building on Ernest Street, where he was spotted, according to a news release from state Attorney General Peter F. Neronha's office.
He was charged on May 17 with one count of possession of a stolen vehicle and one count of driving without a valid license, according to the release.
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From a tour of the State House to an attempted getaway
It all started around 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 4 when the Providence DPW employee saw a man operating a backhoe with Rhode Island plates behind the DPW building on Ernest Street in Providence, Neronha said in the release. The worker asked the man why he was operating a backhoe late at night, and the man allegedly answered that he was a state employee, according to Neronha.
When the man drove away in the backhoe, the DPW worker followed and called the police. The Providence police showed up shortly after and took him into custody before turning him over to the state police, Neronha said.
Investigators say the backhoe was stolen from a DOT facility in Johnston on Jan. 3.
Not the first time the suspect was accused of stealing a backhoe
The suspect faced a similar charge six years ago when a Warwick police officer spotted him driving a backhoe on Jefferson Boulevard with a Shih Tzu dog on his lap, according to a May 2017 report in the Warwick Beacon. The police alleged that the backhoe belonged to a contractor and had been stolen from a Providence post office parking lot.
The suspect pleaded no contest and was sentenced to one year in prison and five years on probation in that and two unrelated cases, according to court records.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: DOT backhoe stolen, driven around by Warwick man, police allege
