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 deputy stopped a truck carrying a new log splitter on a trailer on Washington Street near Riverside Drive, Harris said.
The three men arrested who were inside the truck were 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 facing a preliminary charge of theft, Harris said.
Browder also was arrested on a preliminary charge of possession of marijuana, according to jail records.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.