PARIS — A Woodstock man will serve six months in prison for stealing hundreds of items from the Maine Department of Transportation while he was an employee.

John A. White, 46, pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft by unauthorized taking. An attorney for the Attorney General's Office said White took items ranging from tools and culverts to hand soap and toilet paper while employed maintaining rest stops and doing grading work.

In 2009, when a fellow DOT employee came to White's home to deliver fill, he recognized a large number of items as DOT property. Investigators came to White's house and collected hundreds of items. They found stockpiled items, including shovels, spades, sign posts, culverts, an ax, rolls of orange snow fencing, steel cable, a tarp, speed limit signs, sledge hammers, brooms, office supplies and a 44- by 60-inch concrete rest area base pad.

According to the prosecutor, White admitted to taking the items, telling investigators, “I don't know why I did it.”

They estimated there was more than $40,000 in equipment.

White wasn't ordered to pay restitution because all the items were recovered. He was sentenced to six months, but received a stay of execution until January because he's undergoing surgery.

treaves@sunjournal.com