A man with a lengthy criminal history was booked into the Polk County Jail for the 22nd time after his most recent apparent crime spree, officials said.
Michael Reading, 50, “is one of those criminals who simply does not hesitate to steal, cheat, and lie,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “He has lived a life of crime and has shown no remorse, nor any indication that he will change his criminal ways.”
Reading is accused of stealing two vehicles, a generator and tools from a construction site.
An initial investigation began on April 1 after deputies received a report about a theft of tools from a construction site at Simmers Young Park in Winter Haven. The crew told officials they secured their tools on March 31 in an enclosed utility trailer but returned the next day to a missing generator and several Milwaukee-brand power tools.
On April 6, Polk deputies received another report regarding a stolen 1989 Ford Bronco from a Shell gas station in Auburndale. The victim said he parked his Bronco at the Shell after it broke down. However, video surveillance shows two men towing the vehicle with a grey pickup truck the next day.
The suspected vehicle, a 2000 Ford Ranger, was registered to a Winter Haven man who told detectives he recently sold the truck to Reading.
Upon arriving at Reading’s home, the stolen Bronco, Ford Ranger, power tools, and an orange Predator 5000 generator were found on his property. Reading denied stealing the items and claimed to have been in the hospital on April 1 and 2.
Reading was arrested Tuesday on charges of grand theft, grand theft of a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit grand theft, operating an unpermitted landfill, and two counts of burglary.
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect has prior convictions of burglary, theft, and dealing in stolen property. He recently bonded out of jail in February for drug and paraphernalia charges.
D’oh! Doggone security cameras.