A Porter resident and a Portage resident were arrested Thursday on a charge of theft after Chesterton Police said that they stole scrap from Doler Heating and Cooling at 1575 S. Calumet Road.

Charged with theft, a Class D felony punishable by a term of six months to three years, were Tracy M. Buschman, 41, of 182 S. 20th St. in Porter, and Charles A. Llamas, 34, of 147 Greta Court in Portage.

According to police, at 11:28 p.m. Sgt. Chuck Rinker was checking the parts storage area at the rear of Doler—a routine which he’d added to his shift after two prior thefts of large scrap items from Doler—and observed a pickup truck on the premises.

Rinker followed the truck, whose “bed was heavily laden with bulky items”—as it left the business and turned north on South Calumet Road. “I observed a water heater in the bed of the truck, along with what appeared to be large forced air heating units,” Rinker stated in his report. “The truck bed was so over-loaded the driver was forced to drive at a very slow speed to prevent the load from crashing down and out of the truck.”

Rinker stopped the vehicle in the area of South Calumet Road and Park Ave. after waiting for backup to arrive at scene and made contact with the occupants of the pickup, Buschman and Llamas. “I started to explain the reason for the stop when Ms. Buschman interrupted, advising ‘We took scrap from behind Doler. We have permission to take it,’” Rinker stated.

For his part Llamas advised that he and Buschman had obtained some of the items from dumpsters in Valparaiso before going to Doler, Rinker also stated.

A Doler manager was subsequently contacted, however, and he informed police that Buschman and Llamas did not have permission to take scrap.

Buschman and Llamas were transported to Porter County Jail on a charge of theft. Police said that Buschman was also wanted on warrant charging her with failure to appear.

The items recovered from the pickup were a water heater and two forced air heaters with an unknown value, police said.

Posted 11/20/2009