MANCHESTER – Police are attempting to find a camper that was reported missing from an overflow lot used by a RV, tractor and powersports dealership where it had been brought in for service.  

The owner of the 18-foot camper, David Gove of Belgrade, reported it missing to the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 15, after he and staff at Scott’s Recreation were unable to locate the trailer when Gove arrived to pick it up.

The camper was being stored in a lot owned by Pyro City Maine, a fireworks store, after workers at Scott’s Recreation had completed servicing and winterizing it, according to Gove and the owner of the dealership, Scott Lanpher. Scott’s Recreation uses that lot, which is adjacent to its 746 Western Ave. shop, as an overflow lot to park vehicles and campers that are finished being serviced. Gove, who once owned a car dealership at the site of the fireworks store, formerly owned that parking lot.

“The case is very much still under investigation,” said Lt. Chris Read of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s department. He declined to provide additional details about the incident while the investigation is ongoing.

This is the first report of a missing or stolen trailer from the Manchester business in at least the past three years, according to the sheriff’s office. Officials at Scott’s Recreation said the company has not experienced a vehicle or camper disappearing from its property or the overflow lot in the nearly two decades it has been in business.

“Never — never in 17 years,” Lanpher said.

Scott’s Recreation also has shops in Turner, Hermon and Orono.

Officials at the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said the department is investigating three incidents involving trailers being purchased with stolen credit cards at the Turner branch, but that those cases are considered unrelated to the alleged theft in Manchester. “At this time all three trailers have been recovered; however, no arrests have been made,” said Chief Deputy William Gagne.

Lanpher, the Scott’s Recreation owner, added that while this is the first time one of his customer’s vehicles has been reported stolen, the dealership recently reported the overnight theft of one of its campers at the Fryeburg Fair, which ended Oct. 9. The camper was being used for storage.

In Manchester, surveillance cameras owned by the fireworks company typically monitor the parking lot from which Gove’s vehicle disappeared. But when staff at Pyro City Maine attempted to retrieve footage from the time period that Gove’s vehicle went missing, they found the cameras had been reset following a power surge and were not programmed to record daily activity, owner Steve Marston said. They have since been fixed.

Scott’s Recreation does not chain down the vehicles it parks in the overflow lot, according to Lanpher and Marston. 

Gove estimated that his vehicle, a 2019 Forest River Wolf Pup 18TO, is worth about $17,000 to $19,000.