Kunkletown man charged with making false reports on ATV to Coaldale police

A Kunkletown man faces numerous charges after he claimed to Coaldale police that someone had stolen an all-terrain vehicle he had actually traded for a dirt bike.

Brian Haydt, 38, of 2470 Lower Smith Gap Road, faces two counts of making false reports to police, criminal conspiracy, and tampering with or fabricating evidence.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed with District Judge Stephen Bayer of Tamaqua by Coaldale Officer Scott D. Cramer, here's how the incident unfolded:

Police received a report of two ATV's being stolen from a home. Police spoke with Haydt, a male juvenile, and a Sara Silfies of 111 E. Phillips St., who told them they were taking out the garbage around midnight when they looked in the garage and noticed their 4-wheeler (quad) and 3-wheeler were missing. They said the juvenile was in the garage up until 6:30 p.m., and the ATV's were there then.

Nothing else was found to have been disturbed or missing.

On June 3, Brian Haydt called police and said he thought he may have found his quad for sale on Craig's List. He said the information provided by a seller matched his stolen ATV perfectly. Haydt gave a copy of the listing to police, saying it was only up on the website for a short time, about 15 minutes. The cell phone number in the listing was traced to a resident of Lenhartsville.

On June 9, Cramer, along with Officer Jeremy Talanca, went to the state police barracks at Hamburg to talk with detectives about the matter. Information was given them, and with their assistance, a district judge was contacted and they got a search warrant for the Lenhartsville address. Talanca and several state police officers served the warrant that afternoon.

They found the quad, and information and evidence was gathered from all involved. The information and evidence revealed that the suspects had received the quad legally from the juvenile in exchange for a dirt bike on May 19.

Evidence showed that the teenager was apparently unhappy with the bike, and wanted his quad back.

When the people who had the quad balked, the juvenile allegedly told them via text message that he would report it to police as having been stolen. The people told police they had never placed the quad for sale on Craig's List and wondered how a person who called them about buying it had gotten the information. They decided to sell it anyway.

Cramer then contacted Brian Haydt and asked for he and the juvenile to meet him at the police station. When they met, Cramer asked them again about the theft to clarify what had happened.

The juvenile said again that the quad was there during the day and he noticed it missing at midnight on May 24 when he was taking out the garbage. Brian said he saw it during the day, too.

Silfies said she saw the juvenile with a friend pushing the quad up the driveway on the evening of May 23.

Cramer came into contact with two men who said that around May 25, they bought a dirt bike from the juvenile. The juvenile had also, a week before, sold them the three-wheeler he had reported stolen.

They also said the juvenile had told them a day or two after the transaction that he wanted the dirt bike back and would report it stolen if they didn't return it.

Silfies is also charged with making false reports to police and criminal conspiracy for her role in the escapade.