By Rob Ginter - Staff Writer
A Montgomery County man is charged with stealing a truck from a Morehead bakery and allegedly going on a mini-crime spree.
An employee at Heiner’s Bakery off KY 519 in Morehead reported a bread truck stolen on Sept. 5 after the driver left the van running in the parking lot as he went inside to unload, according to the Morehead Police Department.
The 2003 white Chevy van was owned by Hamilton, Inc., and was left unattended for less than two minutes. It was reported stolen at 3:04 a.m. Saturday morning, according to police.
At 11:52 a.m. that same morning, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that the van stolen from Heiner’s was a vehicle described used in an attempted burglary in Mt. Sterling. But according to police the driver of the stolen vehicle or its registration could not be identified. Later that night, police reports say the stolen van was also involved in a hit and run accident in Montgomery County. In this incident the van’s registration was positively identified as the Heiner’s van.
A police investigation lead to the Morehead Inspiration Center on U.S. 60 west in which an officer was called after a patient allegedly was found drinking alcohol and left the premises after a confrontation.
That patient was Benjamin Bayse, 34, of Jeffersonville who had a criminal history involving theft. He became a person of interest in the case. The van was then searched for and stopped by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and allegedly driven by Bayse.
Bayse was lodged in the Montgomery County Detention and charged with criminal mischief in the first degree and receiving stolen property under $10,000.
The investigation is ongoing by the Morehead Police Department and Patrolman Derek Howard.
