Deputies: Suspects caught with stolen UTV, skid-steer

Yahoo

21-04-2025

BETHEL TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Two people were caught with a stolen piece of construction equipment worth nearly $120,000 after their truck got stuck in the mud near Coldwater, deputies say.
It happened Saturday at the Branch Solar construction site on S. Batavia Road south of Lockwood Road in Bethel Township. The Branch County Sheriff's Office said it was called there on a report of a possible break-in in progress.
When deputies arrived, they found two people trying to get their truck out of the mud. The truck was hauling a trailer carrying a stolen Polaris Ranger UTV worth about $35,000, deputies said.
Deputies said they then found a CAT skid-steer that had also been reported stolen. It was worth about $119,000, but had sustained about $6,500 in damage, they said.
Deputies said the two broke through the construction site's fence to get in.
When they searched the suspects' house nearby, deputies said, they found more stolen property and meth.
One of the suspects was jailed on charges of being in possession of stolen property, and deputies said they are working to add larceny, property damage and drug charges.
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