Tecumseh Police Continue Trailer Theft Probe

From The Tecumseh Countywide News ~ A City of Tecumseh employee has been charged with knowingly concealing stolen property in the seven-month-old case of a missing campaign trailer.

Justin Lewis of Macomb faces a felony charge carrying up to five years in prison after a trailer belonging to a supporter of Gary Jones, then a candidate for State Auditor & Inspector, was found on his property.

Jones planned to use the trailer, which was decorated to look like a covered wagon, in the Frontier Days parade Sept. 16. The trailer, borrowed from a supporter, was brought to Tecumseh the night before and parked at Branson-McKiddy Real Estate on North Broadway, with a cable and lock through the wheels.

It was missing the next morning.

Jones, who was running against incumbent State Auditor & Inspector Jeff McMahan of Tecumseh for the second time, filed a police report that day and commented on the theft at a candidate gathering after the parade. He offered a reward for information.

Tecumseh police found skid marks indicating the trailer was taken west on Walnut, and turned the investigation over Lt. J.R. Kidney. Kidney received a call a few days later from a local resident who said he saw the trailer between midnight and 2 a.m. that night, being pulled by a red pickup truck.

On Nov. 1, Kidney was contacted by a sheriff's deputy who had spotted what he suspected was a stolen trailer in a field in Macomb owned by Lewis. Kidney and the deputy checked it out, and found it matched identifiers supplied by the owner, but the VIN number did not come back as stolen. When they traced the VIN number, it came up as being owned by the City of Tecumseh.

Then-City Manager David Johnson checked and found the trailer in the city barn where it was supposed to be, but with the VIN plate missing.

When questioned by Kidney and the deputy, Lewis claimed he did not know the trailer was stolen and “let someone park the trailer there,” according to Kidney's report. He would not say who parked it there “because of it being a political mess.”

Because of the involvement of a city employee, Kidney's report was turned over to District Attorney Richard Smothermon on Nov. 3. Smothermon in turn asked the Sheriff's Department to look into the matter. Deputy Jim Patten was assigned to look into it and recently turned his report over to Smothermon.

The DA said Lewis was “arrested yesterday (Monday) by one of my investigators, and I believe he has made bond.” The charge is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Smothermon noted that Lewis has “no prior criminal history.”Jones contacted The Countywide News Tuesday to say that he is still interested in apprehending whoever stole the trailer. “I'm upping the reward to $2,500 for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for stealing it,” said Jones, who was recently elected chairman of the state Republican Party.

Smothermon said that this week's charges don't necessarily mark the end of the investigation. “We don't have enough to charge anybody with stealing the trailer,” he said, "but as with all investigations, we'll end it when we have everybody responsible.”

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