Dozens of likely stolen car batteries that officers from the Edinburgh Police Department recovered are pictured in the back of a truck.
Submitted photo
Edinburgh police say two Indianapolis men are connected to a multi-state car battery theft ring.
Peter A. Holman, 46, was arrested on an initial charge of auto theft on July 31, and more charges are still possible, said Doyne Little, Edinburgh police chief. The other suspect, Joseph Reed, 59, has not been arrested, but criminal charges for theft and receiving stolen property have been forwarded to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
Edinburgh Police Department first became involved in the case in mid-July when officers were asked to assist Westfield, Fishers and Greenwood police with an investigation into the thefts of car batteries. Officer Ryan Coy was advised the suspects had stolen car batteries from Walmarts in Westfield, Fishers and Greenwood. These batteries were traced back to a core buyer in Edinburgh because of a tracking device placed with the batteries, according to a press release from Edinburgh police.
The core buyer had collected all the required documents and was able to provide the identity of the suspect who sold the stolen batteries as Reed. Investigators were also able to get the vehicle used in the thefts from plate numbers that were shared among the investigators, police say.
On July 31, Coy located the same suspect vehicles at another core buyer that was not open at the time. He stopped to identify the occupants of the two Dodge Ram 3500 trucks and see if they would answer questions about the prior theft. When Coy checked the trucks, he observed that both vehicles had a large number of batteries in the truck bed and multiple batteries were brand new, police say.
The U-Haul trailer being towed by Holman was also full of batteries, as well as two suspected stolen gas generators. Police later confirmed that the U-Haul trailer had been stolen the night before from a U-Haul location in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, by suspects fitting the description of Holman and Reed, police say.
During a search of the vehicles, Little located a receipt from a July 30 purchase at a Walmart in Miami, Florida. Little contacted Miami-Dade Police Department and learned they had received a report of a large theft of approximately 240 batteries from a Miami Walmart. Little provided the date and time on the receipts and Miami-Dade officers confirmed the purchase had occurred in the same time frame as the theft, based on surveillance footage from the store, the release says.
Charges have not been formalized for either man.
