Police say suburban man stole backhoe, drove it more than 30 miles to Philadelphia scrapyard

PHILADELPHIA – A Pennsylvania man has been jailed on charges he stole a $125,000 backhoe from a suburban construction site then drove it about 30 miles to a scrapyard in Philadelphia where he intended to sell it.

Police estimate it would have taken 33-year-old William Michael Pusey about 2 1/2 hours to make the trip to Philadelphia from Shainline Excavating of Phoenixville, where the backhoe was stolen Sunday.

State police say the backhoe’s owner was able to locate it because of a global-positioning device in it. Police say Pusey was arrested in Philadelphia where he had heard someone wanted to buy a backhoe.

Court records don’t list an attorney for Pusey, of Columbia, who has been returned to the Lancaster County Prison because he faces an outstanding unrelated arrest warrant for theft there.

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