3 arrested after log splitter reported stolen

Three people were arrested after police investigated the theft of a log splitter from a Columbus business.

Columbus police were sent to Rural King, 2985 N. National Road, about an exterior alarm at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday. When they arrived, they found that a log splitter, valued at about $1,500, was missing from the front of the store, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.

A short time later, a Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department deputy stopped a truck carrying a new log splitter on a trailer on Washington Street near Riverside Drive, Harris said.

The three men inside the truck were arrested. Jacob R. Edwards, 23, of 766 Keith Donaldson Road, Freetown; Paul E. Browder Jr., 25, of 3681 W. County Road 150N; and Michael E. Kelly, 41, of 401 Cherry St., each faces a preliminary charge of theft, Harris said.

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Browder also was arrested on a preliminary charge of possession of marijuana, according to jail records.

Edwards and Kelly were released from the Bartholomew County Jail after each posted $7,500 bond, jail officials said. Browder was released after posting $12,500 bond, jail officials said.