Surprise Police arrested two men, this week, while they were attempting to steal over a ton of aluminum from Waste Management’s Northwest Regional Landfill Facility located at 19401 West Deer Valley Road in Surprise.
On June 25, 2015 at around 5:30 am, two Surprise Police detectives, returning from a police training event in the area, observed a white Chevrolet pickup truck leaving the Waste Management facility.
The police detectives found the vehicle to be suspicious because the Waste Management facility was not open for business, however, the vehicle appeared to be leaving with items in the bed of the truck. The truck was loaded with a couple of pallets, with what originally appeared to be appliances.
The detectives conducted a traffic stop and while speaking with the driver, Dustin Pritchard, a 33 year-old Phoenix man, discovered the truck was actually loaded with two pallets of recycled aluminum (approximately 2,400 pounds).
After Pritchard could not properly explain why the pallets of aluminum were in his possession, the detectives contacted a representative at the Waste Management Facility and discovered the material had been stolen from the facility.
During the investigation, the police discovered one of the Waste Management employees, Michael Teague, a 35 year-old Phoenix man, was also connected to the crime.
According to a representative from the Waste Management Facility, Teague had assisted Mr Pritchard in removing the stolen recycled merchandise. The detectives were also informed by the representative from the Waste Management facility that they had recently been experiencing shortages in aluminum during recent audits.
Teague and Pritchard were both arrested, transported, and booked into the Maricopa County 4th Avenue Jail for charges of Burglary in the Third Degree, a Class 3 Felony, and Possession of Burglary Tools, a Class 6 Felony.