Victim’s friend buys engine from suspect
Joshua R. Hobart, 20, Marion, is charged with burglary, criminal damage to property and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
Shortly before 11 p.m. Feb. 4, Clintonville Police Officers Matthew Wright and Craig Bevernitz were dispatched to a home on Flora Way.
The woman who lived there said a yellow Yamaha four-wheeler had been stolen from her garage. She initially had no idea who took it.
She later learned a neighbor saw a black truck at her residence around 7 p.m. She told Wright she suspected Hobart because his girlfriend drives a black truck.
On Feb. 5, the woman drove out to Hobart’s home in Shawano County. She told police she saw a black truck and four-wheeler tracks in his driveway.
That same day, a man who knows both the woman and Hobart told Clintonville Sgt. Chris Wendorf that Hobart and his girlfriend had been talking about selling parts from a stolen ATV.
On May 26, the woman contacted Wright and said a friend had purchased an ATV engine from Hobart.
The friend told police he suspected Hobart of stealing the ATV, so he arranged to buy an engine from him.
According to the criminal complaint, Hobart delivered an ATV four-wheeler to the friend’s house. The handle bars were still attached and they reportedly matched the handle bars on the ATV which belonged to the woman.
The woman and police were able to trace the serial numbers on the engine to the stolen ATV.
On June 22, Capt. Dennis Schroeder, with the Clintonville police, interviewed Hobart.
Hobart allegedly took the ATV to his home, then hid it for a week in a nearby woods, then brought it back to his garage and dismantled the vehicle.