EDINBURGH, Ind. – The Edinburgh Police Department (EPD) was requested to assist Westfield Police, Fishers Police, and Greenwood Police on an investigation into a theft of car batteries last month.
EPD Officer Ryan Coy was advised that the suspects had stolen car batteries from Walmarts in those cities. These stolen batteries were traced back to a tracking device placed with the batteries by a core buyer in Edinburgh. The core buyer who had collected all the required documents provided the identity of the suspect that sold the stolen batteries as 59-year-old Joseph Reed of Indianapolis.
Coy located the same suspect vehicles at another core buyer. He stopped to identify the drivers of the two trucks to see if they would answer questions about the prior theft. When he checked their trucks, he noticed that both vehicles had numerous brand-new batteries. In addition to the batteries, the officer says he also found that the U-Haul Trailer being towed by one of the suspects, Peter Holman, contained two suspected stolen gas generators.
Officer Coy talked with Holman who allegedly confirmed the trailer had been stolen the night before from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, by the same suspects that Edinburgh Police had located with the suspected stolen trucks.
The vehicles were towed and searched for evidence. EPD Chief Doyne Little says he found a receipt in the trucks from a small purchase at a Walmart in Miami, Florida. Miami Dade Police were contacted and they confirmed that a theft of 240 batteries had occurred at that Miami Walmart.
Chief Little provided the date and time on the receipts. That information was compared to surveillance videos viewed by Miami-Dade detectives. who were then able to confirm that the two subjects found with the stolen batteries were the same that Edinburgh Police had identified.
Peter Holman, 46, was arrested for the Auto Theft of the U-Haul trailer and transported to the Johnson County Jail. Joseph Reed, 59, was taken into custody and released, with criminal charges of Receiving Stolen Merchandise being forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for review.
