RANGELEY — A 15-year-old Vermont boy is accused of stealing a dump truck before and using another vehicle to push a snowmobile trailer over an embankment last week, Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said.

Deputy Tyler Gray issued the teen a summons on misdemeanor charges of theft of a motor vehicle, two counts of burglary of a motor vehicle, three counts of criminal mischief and two counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer.

According to Nichols, Gray received a complaint at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 25 of a 2011 Chevrolet 3500 dump truck with a plow being stolen from a residence on Main Street in Rangeley. A short time later the truck was reported to be in a field off Main Street near the Rangeley Family Dentistry, a quarter mile from where it was stolen.

Deputy Alan Elmes received a complaint simultaneously of a hit-and-run crash in a driveway on Main Street. A 2007 Honda owned by a Portland resident was struck and pushed backward into a rock. The offending vehicle fled and later pushed a parked snowmobile trailer down an embankment, the sheriff said.

Gray learned tools were taken from a maintenance shed at the Rangeley Lakes Resort, which led to the discovery of several car burglaries and multiple items being stolen by a suspect wearing hunter orange. His investigation eventually led to the 15-year-old boy, whose family was at a local camp during the week of Thanksgiving, Nichols said.

After the boy’s parents returned to Vermont and found additional stolen items, they returned Wednesday to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office with their son and the items.

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