Carbondale man arrested in Nevada; accused of stealing backhoe, driving to airport to catch flight
By Olivia Tock
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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Illinois (KCTV) — A southern Illinois man was arrested in Nevada and is facing charges of theft in Williamson County after he allegedly stole a backhoe and drove it to the airport to catch his flight to the West Coast.
According to the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, Timothy J. Baggott, of Carbondale, was arrested in Elko County, Nevada on May 21 for charges related to the possession of a stolen vehicle. He was later released.
The sheriff’s office said Baggott was arrested again on May 22 in Wells, Nevada for charges related to the possession of an additional stolen vehicle.
He is currently being held in the Elko County Jail on a $40,000 bond.
On May 23, the Williamson County state’s attorney formally filed charges against Baggott for theft (over $10,000), a class 2 felony. A warrant for his arrest was issued with a $25,000 bond.
Williamson County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois in Marion, Illinois on Thursday, May 18 to look into a suspicious incident.
A backhoe was parked in the airport parking lot, which was determined to be suspicious in nature.
According to Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich, soon after the deputies arrived, the owner of the backhoe arrived on scene and said the equipment belonged to his company, and that it had been parked on a job site at the intersection of Illinois Route 13 and Spillway Road.
After further investigation, Sheriff Diederich said Timothy Baggott, of Carbondale, stole the backhoe and drove it nearly 10 miles to catch a flight at the airport.
According to security camera footage, Baggott arrived and parked the backhoe in the airport parking lot. He then walked from the backhoe, carrying a guitar case, and entered the airport lobby where he got on a flight to Portland, Oregon.
“You hear of people either getting rides from other people, borrowing cars, stealing cars, but a backhoe being stolen from a job site, driven 10 miles to an airport for an individual to catch a flight all the way to the West Coast carrying a guitar, that is unique,” Diederich said.
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