Pilfered paving roller, equipment found

State and local police said Thursday they have recovered $200,000 worth of stolen construction equipment, including a paving roller that was towed by night from a Hermon industrial park in a theft partly caught on video.

The roller was recovered Tuesday about 85 miles away, in Farmingdale.

A surveillance camera at B&B Paving in Coldbrook Industrial Park in Hermon recorded a truck driven by a man stealing the roller Jan. 11.

Penobscot County sheriff’s Detective Bill Flagg said the department decided Monday to distribute images of the theft to area news organizations in hopes of solving the case.

The images showed a Ford truck. Maine State Police Trooper Patrick Munzing of Troop B in Thomaston received numerous calls from people saying they recognized the man in the images.

Authorities identified him as Kenneth Edwards, 41, of Farmingdale.

State police and the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department went to Edwards’ home with a search warrant. The paving roller from Hermon was recovered, along with equipment that had been reported stolen in 2005 from Jordan Equipment in Falmouth and items from Randolph and Farmingdale, their value totaling about $200,000.

The equipment included two Bobcat excavators from Falmouth and a Caterpillar excavator from Randolph. A Skid Steer loader and numerous hydraulic attachments for the equipment also were recovered.

Police said Edwards, a construction contractor, had been working alone. They allege he was stealing equipment from around the state and using it in his work. Edwards was charged Wednesday with one count of Class C theft stemming from the Hermon incident, and more charges are expected from other jurisdictions. He was released on bail, and a court date was set for early March.

“Because of the cooperative effort of the sheriffs, state police and Falmouth Police Department, this case was solved and the property was recovered,” Flagg said Thursday.