Two arrested in Edinburgh in thefts of hundreds of car batteries

Edinburgh police have made two arrests of suspects believed to have stolen vehicle batteries across central Indiana and Florida

According to the Edinburgh Police Department, officers in Westfield, Fishers and Greenwood were investigating the theft of hundreds of batteries from Walmart stores. Early in July, a tracking device with the batteries led police to a buyer in Edinburgh and after talking to the buyer, police were able to obtain documentation on the identify of a suspect and the license plate number of the pickup truck that had been used to transport the batteries.

On July 31st, Edinburgh police found the vehicle at the business of another buyer along with a second truck. Both vehicles were discovered to be full of brand new batteries. A U-Haul trailer was also discovered to be full of batteries. And the trailer had been reported stolen the night before in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The suspects were taken into custody and the vehicles were impounded. A search uncovered a receipt from a Walmart in Miami, Florida, and the police there reported that they were investigating the theft of 240 batteries in that store. Surveillance video of the suspects in those thefts matched the suspects in Edinburgh.

46-year-old Peter Hollman was arrested for the theft of the U-Haul trailer and 59 year old Joseph Reed has been arrested and later released, but evidence on theft charges has been forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.