Photo by James Short.
The defendant told police he is homeless and lives in the woods on Hendricks Road.
An Eagleville man is facing charges of felony theft by unlawful taking and misdemeanor criminal mischief by damaging property after police accused him of stealing a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup with a red snowplow in Lower Frederick Township and then drastically damaging the vehicle.
Michael Wyatt Tadley, 32, of the 60th block of Eagleville Road, is accused of taking the pickup out of a driveway on the unit block of Hendricks Road at 5:20 a.m. Feb. 12, 2024, police said.
Police issued a warrant for Tadley on Thursday, per court documents.
Pennsylvania State Police at Skippack were told by the truck owner that he was asleep in his house, which is also his place of business for his mechanic shop, and was woken up by the sound of his truck starting, per the affidavit.
He got up and went outside and found his Ram pickup was gone, and thus, reported stolen, police said. According to the affidavit, the truck had a snowplow attached to the front, but had no license plate and expired inspection and emissions. The truck, police said, was backed into the driveway, with another car parked in front of it.
Police found broken tinted glass on the driveway, which came from the rear door, per the complaint. Due the vehicle being backed in and the location of the glass, police determined that the rear passenger door window was broken to enter the truck, police said.
The truck owner, however, had both sets of keys, per the complaint.
Then, on March 1, Pennsylvania State Police were informed by Lower Salford Township Police of a potential suspect, who had an active warrant for an attempted theft, identified as Tadley, police said.
Lower Salford surveillance photos showed Tadley driving a dark green Dodge Ram 1500 with a snowplow on the front, police said, and a broken rear passenger door window. The license plate on the truck, police said, was registered to Tadley’s mother, and also revealed multiple readings of the plate throughout the area.
On March 6, police got surveillance video from Lower Salford Police of their investigation, which, police allege, showed Tadley driving the truck on Feb. 19 at 5:03 a.m., attempting to steal a log splitter from Berks Ridge Construction, 316 Ruth Road, Lower Salford.
On March 18, at 6:35 p.m., a hit came in at state police headquarters from Upper Pottsgrove Police for the stolen truck, police said. On March 20, at 12:30 p.m., police contacted Upper Pottsgrove Police in reference to their investigation, police said. Upper Pottsgrove Police said a traffic stop was conducted where Tadley, police allege, was driving another stolen vehicle.
At the time of the stop, Tadley was towing the green Dodge Ram 1500, police said.
On April 16, at 10 a.m., police interviewed Tadley in a holding cell a district court, prior to a preliminary hearing with Upper Pottsgrove Police, per the complaint. Tadley told state police he is homeless and had been staying in a wooded area on Hendricks Road in Lower Frederick, police said.
He told police he was walking down the road the day of the theft, saw the truck, and took it from the driveway, police said in the complaint. Tadley told police he broke the window with his fist and he “had ways of starting a vehicle” but did not elaborate any further, per the affidavit.
Tadley told police he had a drug addiction and visited family in Berks County, according to the complaint.
On April 16, at 10:45 a.m., police responded to the unit block of Hendricks Road to speak with the victim, who was able to recover the truck, police said.
However, the truck, authorities allege, was severely damaged: It had a broken transmission, valued at $3,000; three-quarters of the truck was spraypainted white; all of the interior windows were painted black; the rear window was broken; both headlights were missing, the interior dashboard and panels were removed; and the steering column was broken.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
