By: Alex Evans
DULUTH, Minn. – A man is accused of stealing a truck, before abandoning the vehicle and stealing another last Friday, police say.
Deputies have arrested a man who they allege stole two trucks over the course of just a few hours early Friday morning. James Eugene Ferry, 36, is accused of first stealing a truck from the 500 block of West Second Street, before abandoning it at Superior Fuels’ facility off of Highway 61 and taking one of their company trucks.
According to the criminal complaint, when Duluth Police officers responded to the West Second Street address on Friday morning, they learned that the truck’s owner had a “tracking application on his phone.” The data showed that someone started the vehicle at around 2:55 a.m. and was driving until 6:00 a.m., when it stopped at Superior Fuels. The value of the truck was reportedly $24,000.
Responding St. Louis County Deputies were able to locate the victim’s “truck empty and stuck in a muddy ditch” at the facility. Security cameras showed the truck entering their property at around 5:28 a.m., and a man police allege is Ferry, entering one of Superior Fuels’ black Chevrolet pickup trucks, according to the complaint. The company told police that at the time the truck was stolen, no employees were at work.
Shortly after retrieving his vehicle from the Superior Fuels facility, the first victim called 911 again to report that he saw the stolen company truck driving on Highway 61. Deputies initiated a traffic stop on the company truck and reported that Ferry, who was the lone occupant and driver, “matched the description of the individual observed in the surveillance footage.”
Ferry reportedly “denied stealing the truck from Superior Fuels and indicated that he had been at his mother’s house that morning.” In a statement to another officer, Ferry also claimed “that he had been at the CHUM from 6 p.m. the prior evening until 6 a.m. that morning.”
Authorities reportedly called Ferry’s mother to verify he was there; however, she told them, “she was not aware of Ferry being at her residence that morning.”
Ferry is charged with two felony counts of vehicle theft; however, because the alleged thefts occurred in different jurisdictions, they are tried as separate cases. In the first case, Ferry could face a maximum possible sentence of 10 years. In the Superior Fuels case, Ferry could face a maximum possible sentence of five years.
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