Jun 18, 2021 2 min read

A Wind Ridge man is facing several theft-related charges after police responded to a vehicle crash involving his alleged getaway vehicle.

State police charged William Harold Barnhart, 28, with burglary, receiving stolen property, theft by unlawful taking and criminal trespass before Magisterial District Judge David Balint.

Barnhart was charged after police were dispatched to a single-vehicle accident along Roy Furman Highway in Center Township at 4:49 p.m. May 5.

Police arrived to find the dark-blue Jeep with a West Virginia license plate Barnhart was driving on its roof. As troopers investigated the vehicle accident, they received information that a burglary occurred minutes prior to their arrival, court paperwork noted.

A witness to the alleged burglary who was not identified in the complaint told police he saw a white man with a brown beard trying to steal something from a property along the highway. Police said the witness told them the man was driving a dark blue Jeep with a West Virginia license plate.

According to the charges, the witness tried to stop the Jeep but couldn’t. When he then heard the sirens, the witness came to the scene and saw the vehicle accident and identified the vehicle as the one that fled the burglary, police said.

The alleged victim of the burglary gave police a list of items stolen from his property including a welder, boxes of sockets, chainsaw, hatchet, hip hoist with a hand crank, post-hole digger, air tank, metal grinder, animal trap, floor jack, impact wrench, electric drill and truck chain, all valued at $1,355.

Police issued a search warrant for the Jeep and recovered items the victim identified as being stolen, court records state.

Barnhart was arraigned on the charges June 4 and was released from jail after posting $15,000 straight bail. As of the Messenger’s press time, he was scheduled to appear before Balint for his preliminary hearing on June 17. No further information regarding his hearing was not available by press time.