Oh mow! Police use tech to trip up mower theft suspect

By KATU.com Staff Published: Jul 23, 2012 at 2:48 PM PDT

ST. HELENS, Ore. - St. Helens police made an arrest over the weekend after they said a thief tried to steal an expensive riding mower from a local business.

Police said the case began on Friday when they looked into a report of a hole being cut in a security fence at Sunset Equipment on Port Avenue.

Investigators found a $1,700 Husqvarna riding lawn mower nearby obscured by blackberry brambles and wood pallets.

Instead of returning the mower to the business, police attached a motion-sensing silent alarm to the machine and waited for the thief to return.

On Saturday at about 2 p.m., the alarm activated and police pulled over a man driving a vehicle towing a small utility trailer with a riding mower in it.

Upon questioning, police said Michael Wayne McElroy, 34, of Gresham, "could not adequately explain" how he came to have the mower in his possession.

He was arrested on theft, trespassing and criminal mischief charges and taken to the Columbia County Jail.

The mower was returned to the business in like-new condition, according to Lt. Terry Moss with the St. Helens police department.

12 comments

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Kay

this guy was busted again yesterday for more theft! hope he stays behing bars for a long time.

Kushfan

"The mower was returned to the business in like-new condition"

In other words, used.

WendyTeagarden

He only drove it to and from the Walgreens store

Tom

That's a stupid title for an article. Just because it rhymes does not make it clever. Whoever wrote it should be fired, along with the moron who came up with the equally uncatchy "click it or ticket" campaign.

dkgiovenco

You been punked!!

RalphCramden

Nice work. They should have put a GPS device on there so that they could follow him and see if he had any compatriots in the theft. Maybe he was going to fence it and the cops could have use the mower to bust the fences in the process.