Police: Derry Township men stole ATVs, dirt bikes
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Two Derry Township men were arrested Tuesday by state police in connection with a rash of all-terrain vehicle and dirt bike thefts since mid-December.
Seth A. McIntire, 20, and Cody E. Stiffey, 24, are charged before District Judge Mark Bilik with counts of theft, receiving stolen property, altering vehicle identification numbers and burglary.
According to an affidavit filed by Trooper Jason Morgan, a member of the auto theft task force based in Harmar, investigators caught a break Jan. 10 as one of the theft victims was waiting for troopers to arrive at his home to make a report on his stolen 2005 Honda ATV. The victim saw the suspects aboard two ATVs — including his own — driving past the home and heading north toward Route 22, police said.
“(While the victim) was awaiting PSP arrival, he observed what he thought to be his ATV traveling with a side-by-side matching the description of a (previously stolen) Polaris.” The victim pursued the ATVs until he lost sight of them on Route 22, Morgan said.
Morgan reported that the incident enabled state police to develop information that led them to a residence in the 500 block of Stone Jug Road, near Keystone Raceway just off Route 22, where some of the stolen vehicles were believed to have been hidden.
When troopers went to that location Jan. 13 to question the residents, Morgan reported that “McIntire … made incriminating statements about his involvement, causing him to be detained.”
Troopers have charged the pair with the theft of three vehicles: a 2009 Yamaha dirt bike stolen from a residence in the 200 block of Pandora Road; the 2005 Honda ATV; and a 2017 Polaris Razor stolen from a residence on Pizza Barn Road.
Another reported theft, of a 2012 Yamaha motorcycle stolen Dec. 17 from a residence on House Road, remains under investigation.
Troopers recovered pieces and parts of other machines that are being investigated. Inside a barn at the Stone Jug residence, troopers discovered a deconstructed ATV that had been spray-painted white and had its engine removed, Morgan wrote.
“Examination showed its vehicle identification number along the front cross of the frame had been ground off,” Morgan wrote.
“Asked about the VIN being defaced/destroyed, McIntire confessed that he destroyed the VIN by sanding it with sandpaper. He painted the quad and was preparing to redo the machine,” Morgan wrote.
Troopers reported the Polaris ATV was recovered from Stiffey and had been kept hidden in a vacant garage in the village of Byrd’s Crossing.
McIntire and Stiffey were released on $10,000 unsecured bond pending a preliminary hearing Feb. 20.
Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter @ppeirce_trib.