Police: Brodheadsville man charged with theft of construction equipment

A Monroe County man is facing charges of receiving stolen property for the theft of construction equipment.

William Eichelsdoerfer, 53, of Brodheadsville, has been charged in connection with the theft of equipment from IB Abel Inc., of Chestnuthill Township.

State police at Fern Ridge were dispatched on Oct. 8 to the IB Abel site along Greenview Drive where company officials said the following equipment had been stolen sometime over the weekend: a Belmont trailer valued at $7,800; Caterpillar power rake valued at $9,000; a 4-foot forks attachment for a skid steer valued at $2,100; and a Caterpillar bucket attachment for a skid steer valued at $1,800. Total value of the equipment was set at $20,700.

Troopers were advised that the power rake attachment had a GPS device. Through the investigation the GPS was traced to Eichelsdoerfer’s residence and then it was moved to an address along Chestnut Street, in Oxford, New Jersey. Police went to that address and seized the equipment and spoke to the homeowner, identified as Salvatore M. Sember. Sember said he worked for Intercounty Paving and that Eichelsdoerfer was his immediate supervisor. He said Eichelsdoerfer had told him to come to his residence in Brodheadsville and take the equipment to his home in New Jersey. Sember, when interviewed, said Eichelsdoerfer told him the equipment was for a job in New Jersey and it was going to be used that week.

Sember said he had no idea the equipment was stolen.

Based on the investigation, which included interviews with employees of the firm and Sember, a warrant was obtained for Eichelsdoerfer’s arrest charging him with three counts of receiving stolen property.