READING — Chief David Clark reports that the Reading Police Department is summonsing two individuals to court to face charges they stole a cart full of tools from Home Depot earlier this month.
A 31-year-old man with no known address and a 34-year-old woman with no known address are both being charged with larceny under $1,200, and the 31-year-old man is additionally being charged with receiving stolen property and possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute.
On Tuesday, Dec 12, Reading Police took a report of a larceny from Home Depot in which a man and a woman walked out of the store with a cart full of tools.
Store employees provided police with a description of the vehicle the two left the area in, and Reading Police found that vehicle abandoned a short distance away from the store, with some of the stolen merchandise from Home Depot in plain sight inside the vehicle. Reading Police impounded the vehicle as an investigation was underway.
On Thursday, Dec. 14, Reading Police detectives obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and located the tools that were taken from Home Depot inside of the vehicle, along with a large amount of other merchandise and numerous baggies of marijuana packaged for resale.
As a result of a subsequent investigation that included reviewing surveillance video from Home Depot, tracking down the registered owner of the vehicle and working with law enforcement partners in several other jurisdictions, the 31-year-old and 34-year-old were identified as the suspects who took the tools from Home Depot.
Reading Police continue to work with law enforcement partners around the region to identify whether the other merchandise found in the vehicle, most of which still had tags and security devices on it, was stolen as well.
The 31-year-old and 34-year-old will both be arraigned at a later date in Woburn District Court.
