Man charged in truck, dirt bike theft

FARMINGTON — A Wilton man was charged Saturday with stealing a Farmington resident's truck and dirt bike and then leading police on a chase in September.

Samuel Thibault, 27, was arrested on warrants for several charges including theft, eluding, and passing a roadblock pertaining to the truck theft, Franklin County Lt. Niles Yeaton said.

Police say Thibault stole a pickup truck with a dirt bike in it from a Farmington residence on Sept. 20.

The truck was spotted a week later by police and its owner being driven around, and the owner also spotted his stolen dirt bike being driven on Intervale Road in Temple.

Sheriff's Cpl. Steve Charles set up two separate roadblocks in the area but the driver went around both of them, Yeaton said at the time.

Charles pursued the driver for nearly 4 miles on Day Mountain Road until it turned onto an all-terrain vehicle trail, Yeaton said.

Then Charles and Deputy Chris Chase and his trained dog tracked the person 3½ miles up through the woods on Day Mountain until the scent was lost, he said.

However, police were able to recover the bike and truck and return them to the owner.

dperry@sunjournal.com