Night Watchman Charged In Saddle Ridge Equipment Theft

A Sebring couple was free Tuesday after their arrest on warrants Saturday, after sheriff's investigators say the woman took a Caterpillar 725 dump truck for a night-time joy ride on July 3 into July 4 around the Saddle Ridge construction site.

Saddle Ridge is located at 1200 Marguerite Road, in Sebring, south of State Road 66 and west of Payne Road. The equipment is the property of Professional Contractors Inc.

Doyle Massengill, 49, and Melissa Jane Ford, 22, of 5 Lake Park Road, were each charged with first-degree grand theft $100,000 or more. Massengill was additionally charged with grand theft $20,000 or more but less than $100,000.

Massengill was freed on $20,000 bail and Ford was allowed to go free on the pretrial release program.

Investigators say Ford took the dump truck from a barn, with her 15-year-old sister riding as a passenger, and drove it around the Saddle Ridge property until she got it stuck in the mud.

She called Massengill for help on her Nextel and Massengill reportedly took a tractor and drove it to where a Caterpillar excavator was parked. He then damaged the excavator and the dump truck while trying to get it out of the mud, according to the arrest report.

When investigators initially contacted Massengill, he reportedly denied having anything to do with the incident and told deputies he did not hear anything unusual that night. It was then he told deputies his girlfriend was on the property that night, the report stated.

Deputies questioned Ford, who said she got permission from Massengill to take the truck for a spin around the property that night.

However, the owners of the heavy equipment said Massengill was hired as an equipment operator, but was reassigned as a night watchman. They told investigators that Massengill was specifically told not to drive the equipment and decided to press charges.

The damage to the property of Professional Contractors Inc. was listed at more than $100,000.

Saddle Ridge spans 1,200 acres and offers 10-acre parcels for homes and horse farms, according to its Web site.