An Ohio man has been arrested and charged with a felony after he allegedly stole something that authorities didn't expect to lose -- a 58-foot-long bridge.
Police say 63-year-old David Bramley paid a local trucking company for a crane service to help move the pedestrian bridge from a field in Akron to his property in Medina County.
The bridge used to cross the Little Cuyahoga River in Middlebury Run Park, not far from Goodyear's world headquarters. In 2003 or 2004, the bridge was removed for a wetland restoration project and relocated to a field nearby.
Officials planned to repurpose the bridge, but for years it sat untouched in the field. That is until early November of this year, when police were notified that the bridge seemingly vanished into thin air.
"On November 3rd, it was discovered that someone had cleared brush around it and removed the treated deck boards. On November 11th, the entire structure was gone," police wrote on Facebook.
Authorities said the bridge is like a large Lego set and somewhat easy to take apart with the right equipment.
After asking the public for help, police received "several tips" and developed information that led investigators to Bramley. Officers got a warrant and searched his property last Friday, where they found the bridge partially disassembled.
"Detectives discovered that Bramley, who formally worked in the Akron area, paid a local trucking company for a crane service," police said in a statement. "The crane was later used to place the bridge on and off a vehicle that transported it to the Medina County property."
Bramley was arrested and charged with felony theft. Police did not indicate what Bramley planned to do with the bridge. He's scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Akron Municipal Court.
Arrangements are now being made to ship the bridge back to Akron, according to police.
While bridge theft may seem unusual, it's not completely unheard of. In 2011, two brothers in Pennsylvania were charged with stealing a 50-foot-long, 20-foot-wide bridge. Authorities said the brothers made more than $5,000 selling 31,000 pounds of steel parts from the bridge, the Associated Press reported.
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