Man steals Fairplay fire truck

Fairplay - A Vermont man stole and ditched a Park County Northwest Fire Protection District fire truck before being arrested on Thursday night in Custer County, ending what appears to be a string of multi-state thefts.

When Fire Chief Norm Crouch got a late night call from Park County Deputy Dean Morgan asking if he was missing a truck, he thought it had to be a joke.

"I haven't counted them lately," Crouch said.

After Morgan described the Northwest Fire Protection District Engine 42 and said it was found it in a ditch outside Westcliffe, Crouch was out the door. He and other fire officers raced to the fire station to find the a broken window and that a 2000 F550 Ford light rescue truck was missing.

When Custer County released the truck to be returned to Fairplay, officials had already arrested 24-year-old Brian Roberts of Vermont for the theft of a local Westcliffe delivery truck, as well.

According to the Park County Sheriff's Office, a couple had picked up Roberts as he was hitchhiking back to the fire truck in the ditch. After dropping off the Vermont man near a hotel in Westcliffe, the couple thought a lone person driving a fire truck late at night didn't seem right, so they contacted local authorities.

As the investigating officers were examining the fire truck, they saw a local ACE Hardware vehicle passing, knew the store didn't make deliveries at nearly midnight, and stopped and arrested the driver for stealing that truck. During questioning, Roberts confessed to taking the Park County fire truck, and told them he was on his way to Texas.

In the meantime, Park County investigators found a semi-truck abandoned on CR4 near Hoosier Pass that had been stolen from Oklahoma. Investigators found evidence that linked Roberts to all three of the stolen vehicles, and after contacting the FBI, they began to piece to Roberts' multi-state crime spree.

Park County Undersheriff Don Anthony said, evidently, Roberts had stolen the Oklahoma salt water hauling truck, traveled through Fairplay, and had filled what he may have thought was the fuel tank with diesel stolen from Ferrell Gas in Fairplay and headed up Highway 9.

When the truck quit running just north of Alma, he pulled onto Lower 4 and hitchhiked back to Fairplay, where the 295-pound man heaved a rock through the window, squeezed into the fire station and helped himself to the fire truck.

Crouch estimated at lease $1,000 damage to the station, but damage estimates have not yet been made for the fire truck.