Mount Pleasant police say a 64-year-old Tennessee man was stealing metal rims from Beck Aluminum, and he said he did it so he could sell them for the money he needs to get home.
John Bond was charged Friday in Racine County Circuit Court with one misdemeanor count each of theft and possession of drug paraphernalia and one felony count of marijuana possession. If convicted, he faces up to just over four years in prison and/or up to $20,500 in fines.
According to the criminal complaint, police were notified a series of thefts were occurring between 2 and 5 a.m. each night at Beck Aluminum,1349 23rd Street. Shortly after 2:30 a.m. Friday, officers observed a pick-up truck with an empty bed driven by a man – later identified as Bond – pull into the shipping area with its lights off. A few minutes later the truck appeared again and police observed the bed of it was full of rims.
Officers say they followed Bond for a few minutes while he left the area and initiated a traffic top on Mead Street. Police searched the defendant’s truck and found a glass pipe and 2.3 grams of marijuana so they took Bond into custody and read him his Miranda rights.
Police returned the rims to Beck Aluminum and questioned Bond after he agreed to answer questions without a lawyer present, the complaint reads. Bond told officers he was trying to raise the money he needed to return to Tennessee. He has been in Racine for the last several months after giving a friend said he would pay Bond for a ride up here, but the man never paid.
Bond admitted that someone named Gary had given him the idea to steal the rims and that he’d done it more than once. Officers say Bond told them he sold the previously stolen items to a scrapyard in Milwaukee and that he was staying with his friend at a home in the City of Racine.
The defendant remains in the Racine County Jail on a $750 cash bond and will next be in court May 28 for his preliminary hearing.