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Accused dump truck thief now in prison

A Trout Run area man who broke into Miller’s Trucking Inc. on Old Montgomery Pike Road and stole a dump truck on New Year’s Eve was taken into custody at the nearby Chad Lee Trailer Park shortly after the break-in, state police alleged in court papers.

Already on state parole for burglary, 32-year-old Jeffery Allen Wiestling was nabbed at the trailer park in Armstrong Township, where earlier he had allegedly caused a disturbance with his girlfriend’s mother, Cheryl Lynn Phillips, police said.

Police said Phillips had pushed Wiestling out of a house because of his intoxication and that during the confrontation, Wiestling “grabbed ahold of Phillips, causing scratches on her arms,” Trooper Kyle Schaad said in an affidavit.

Schaad alleges that soon after he was pushed out of the house about 10 p.m., Wiestling made his way to Miller’s Trucking, where he “used blunt force to gain entry, by smashing out a window to the main door.”

Once inside, Wiestling allegedly climbed into an International dump truck, owned by the business, and drove it through a garage door and to the trailer park before fleeing the scene, Schaad said he was told.

Schaad responded to the trailer park just after 10 p.m. to interview Phillips about the confrontation she had with Wiestling. The burglary at the business soon was discovered.

The trooper, along with assistance from the South Williamsport police department, responded to the garage to inspect the crime scene. While at the garage, Schaad received word that Wiestling had returned to the trailer park.

Schaad went back to the trailer park and nabbed Wiestling, who was “highly intoxicated with slurred speech, bloodshot, glassy eyes, and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from him,” the trooper said in his affidavit.

The stolen dump truck was located next to a garage across from the entrance to the trailer park, Schaad said, adding that the truck was “warm to the touch.”

Wiestling was taken to Williamsport Regional Medical Center, but he refused to provide a blood sample and started “yelling, screaming and kicking the furniture,” Schaad said.

Wiestling, of 1458 Route 14, automatically was placed in Lycoming County Prison on a parole violation. He recently was arraigned before District Judge James H. Sortman on numerous felony and misdemeanor charges, including, burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and disorderly conduct. He remains behind bars in lieu of $90,000 bail.

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