AUBURNDALE, Fla. – What started as a simple “For Sale” sign on a vacant lot ended with a Polk City man facing grand theft charges after a stolen travel trailer was recovered.
On June 10th, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a stolen 2008 Rockwood Travel Trailer. The victim told deputies he had parked the trailer in a vacant lot at the intersection of Berkley Road and Seville Road in Auburndale, hoping to sell it, and had placed a “For Sale” sign on it.
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Investigators soon discovered that a work vehicle had been used to haul the trailer away from the lot. This piece of information led detectives to identify the driver as 54-year-old Robert Laney of Polk City, an employee of the truck’s owner.
When questioned, Robert Laney denied any knowledge that the trailer was stolen. He claimed he had simply assisted an unknown white male whose vehicle had broken down, and in an act of goodwill, helped tow the trailer for him.
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Curiously, Laney stated he did not know the man’s name and had no way to contact him.
Furthermore, Laney admitted to towing the travel trailer to a location conveniently next to his own property, where he had been storing it for the unidentified individual.
Skeptical of Laney’s account, deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested him. Robert Laney was transported to the Polk County Jail,
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