An employee of Quirk Auto Park on Haskell Road in Bangor reported to police Monday that thieves stole more than $5,000 in tires and aluminum rims earlier that morning.

A video surveillance camera caught the vehicle the thieves used coming and going. The rest was evident to the employee and police. The rear ends of four trucks were up on wooden blocks. The tires and wheels were missing, but the center caps and lug nuts were left behind on the ground, according to the police report by Officer Larry Morrill.

Also left behind was a floor jack the thieves used to lift the vehicles between about 1:20 a.m. and about 3 a.m. The employee said each of the eight tires was valued at $160 and each aluminum wheel at $560 each for a total of $5,760.

Old Town police Officer Bobbie Pelletier wasn’t expecting a second car to stop for him when he pulled over one vehicle on Center Street on Sunday night, but it led to an interesting circumstance.

As Pelletier was headed to talk to the second driver – to let her know he hadn’t stopped her and that she could go on her way – the officer recognized the front seat passenger in the red Mercury Tracer.

It was 20-year-old Dwaine Deroche, an Old Town man who was wanted on a warrant for failure to pay a fine.

Pelletier said he knew this, as he had been searching for Deroche the week before.

The officer arrested Deroche and let the driver of that vehicle go, as initially planned. He also let the first driver go, with a warning that she needed to fix her muffler. She told Pelletier that she had plans to do just that.

An Old Town resident reported seeing flashlights in the woods by Stillwater Avenue and Pembroke Drive about 7 p.m. Sunday. Old Town police Officer Bobbie Pelletier investigated and found that it was just Boy Scouts practicing building survival shelters.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli