A Norway man accused of stealing a large construction trailer and a sport utility vehicle from separate locations in Oxford County last week was arrested Thursday night in Ellsworth on drunken-driving and theft charges, officials said.

George M. Glenn, 39, of 10 Hobbs Pond Lane, Norway, was taken into custody in Hancock County at 8:30 p.m. on a charge of operating under the influence and an Oxford County warrant charging theft by unauthorized taking, a Hancock County jailer said.

A series of coincidences involving the trailer owner in Otisfield and a relative of the SUV title holder in Norway eventually led Norway police and Oxford County deputies to Glenn, Norway Chief Rob Federico said Thursday night.

The Norway investigation began after a 1992 Ford SUV owned by a Massachusetts resident was reported stolen from the owner’s summer property on Hobbs Pond on Oct. 16, the chief said. Glenn will be formally charged in that case when he’s returned to Oxford County, he said.

The owner’s name was not available Thursday night.

“(Glenn) stole the vehicle because he had a vehicle just like it. He wanted the motor and transmission for his vehicle,” Federico said.

Once it was stripped of parts, Glenn called a friend with a car hauler to have it taken to a junk dealer in Poland, according to the chief. However, when the car hauler overheated along the way, the driver asked a buddy of his for permission to leave the SUV in his yard on Route 26 in Poland.

That’s where a relative of the SUV owner happened to see it Tuesday night while passing by on the way to visit a family member in Poland. The relative called the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, and Deputy Tom Slivinski said he confirmed it was the vehicle stolen from Norway and notified Norway Detective Gary Hill, who interviewed the car hauler driver.

Another key to the case, Federico said Thursday night, was when Oxford County Cpl. Brian Landis arrested Glenn on Oct. 18 on Waterford Road in Norway near where the SUV was stolen and in a nearly identical model to it.

Glenn was taken into custody on Lewiston District Court warrants charging failure to appear in court for operating after suspension and operating without a license, and his vehicle was impounded, Deputy Bill Nelson said.

A look inside Glenn’s SUV found a stash of tools, Federico said.

Glenn was released the same day from the Oxford County Jail in Paris on $540 cash.

Then, Federico said he got a personal call from a friend of his, Simon Vigue of Otisfield. During the conversation, Vigue happened to mention that his 14-foot-long, 10-foot-tall Thule construction trailer loaded with $8,000 to $10,000 worth of tools had been stolen late last week, Federico said.

Hill went back to interview the car hauler driver, the chief said, and learned Glenn had brought a construction trailer to the car hauler’s father’s house on Hackett Mills Road in Poland. And there it was when Hill and an Androscoggin County deputy went to check it out Tuesday night.

“There were tools in the trailer that didn’t belong to my friend,” Federico said.

“It all fell into place one after another,” he added.

“Our case is pretty much complete,” he said.

Hill is waiting for Glenn’s return to Oxford County to serve the paperwork, he explained. Meanwhile, he is being held without bail in the Hancock County Jail.

Deputy Nelson said Vigue’s trailer, worth an estimated $7,000, was parked at a friend’s residence in Otisfield at the time it was taken. When it was recovered, $3,000 to $4,000 worth of tools were missing from it.

The warrant for Glenn’s arrest was issued Thursday, hours before he was picked up in Hancock County, a jailer at Paris said Thursday night.

Nelson said Glenn has been living in Norway since his recent move from Minnesota.