Semi-truck taken from Portland tracked down by GPS, arrest made in Madras

Published: Aug 25, 2009 at 10:05 AM PST Last Updated: Aug 25, 2009 at 2:23 PM PST
Semi-truck taken from Portland tracked down by GPS, arrest made in Madras
His employer apparently called police when Nevada-based commercial truck driver William Edward Craig did not return a truck to a Portland drop-off point and instead headed back to where he came from. (Photograph Source: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office)

Information courtesy of a press release from Oregon State Police.

MADRAS, Ore. - A Nevada man was arrested Monday afternoon in a commercial truck reported stolen from Portland. He was arrested by an Oregon State Police trooper on Highway 97 north of Madras.

The arrest was made with the cooperation of a trucking company through the use of their global positioning system to track the stolen truck's movements.

On Aug. 24, at around 4:30 p.m., state Senior Trooper Justin Hyser was notified of a possible stolen commercial truck traveling southbound on Highway 97 near Kent. Hyser called the victim company, Knight Refrigeration, and learned the truck's driver, William Edward Craig, a 51 year old from Zephyr Cove, Nev., allegedly took the truck from the Portland area and refused to return it after being contacted by the company.

At about 5 p.m., Hyser spotted the missing commercial truck and semi-trailer just north of Madras near milepost 92. The vehicles were stopped without incident and Craig was arrested for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and two counts of Possession of a Stolen Vehicle. He was lodged at the Jefferson County Jail.

 

[KATU.com note: From Madras there are multiple highways leading directly to Nevada. The division manager for the Portland operating center informs KATU.com that, though Knight does hire outside commercial drivers, if the driver was in possession of Knight equipment then "it was probably one of our employees." Knight has several truck drop-off points in the direction where Craig was heading. If Craig is convicted, under most commercial hiring processes that require a clean driving record, the unauthorized-use charge could keep him from working in this industry again.

This just in (as of 11:11 a.m., Aug. 25) from the state trooper who made the arrest, Justin Hyser: "Craig was an employee; it's still under investigation as to what actually happened, but what I've gathered so far is that that some circumstances happened where he was told to return his truck and his trailer to the Portland yard, that's when he dropped his trailer and took off in the truck. Somewhere along the line he picked up another trailer, a company trailer. They're trying to figure out at this point where he picked it up. He was headed back to Nevada."]