CARMEL – Thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen construction tools have been recovered by Maine State Police, and troopers are looking for their owners.

The tools, which apparently were taken from construction sites around Penobscot County, were found in a house on Haskell Road shared by two men who are the suspected thieves, Trooper Jarod Stedman said Wednesday.

The men have not been charged and the investigation is not complete, Stedman said. Police have not released their names.

“They’re currently incarcerated, but it’s on a separate charge,” Stedman said. “As part of the investigation, we came into contact with a large amount of stolen property. We’re trying to get that back to the rightful owners.

“We’ve been able to find owners for a lot of the stuff, but we still have a fair amount of property that is unclaimed,” he said.

The list of tools includes “pretty much any type of tool that’s used in new construction or new resident construction,” including power tools, mechanic tools, plumbing tools and the such.

“It looks like these guys were active for the last two or three months,” Stedman said.

The men, who are cooperating with police, are suspected of taking items from sites in Bangor, Charleston, Dixmont and Newburgh – “pretty much all over Penobscot County,” Stedman said, making the case multijurisdictional.

That means it may be a while before all the evidence is collected and interviews are completed, he said.

Stolen tools from construction sites are “becoming a more common occurrence,” Stedman said. “Unfortunately, it’s one of those things we chase our tail with every day. For every one we chase, there are three more doing it.”

People whose tools have been stolen in the past couple of months may call Stedman at the Orono barracks (866-2121) to look into claiming the recovered tools.

nricker@bangordailynews.net

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