A stove that fell out of the bed of a pickup truck leaving a new North Huntingdon housing plan resulted in the arrest of a Hazelwood man on burglary and theft charges, police said.

Gary W. Cawley, 40, was arrested Friday along Route 30 as he attempted to flee after trying to secure a stove taken from a vacant house in the Tuscan Hills Housing Plan, police said.

Cawley was arraigned in Westmoreland County Night Court on charges of burglary, criminal trespass, theft, receiving stolen property and driving on a suspended license. He was released on unsecured bond pending an April 10 preliminary hearing.

A North Huntingdon motorist, Christopher Todd Fife Jr., said he was following the vehicle and captured the incident on video. He posted the video on the Across Westmoreland Facebook group.

Officer Anna Jandric reported police were dispatched about 6 p.m. to the housing plan for a report of a suspicious vehicle — an old, green Dodge pickup truck that matched the description of a similar vehicle that has been reportedly used in prior unsolved appliance thefts in the development.

As Jandric was responding to the scene, police received a second report a stove had fallen out of the truck, but the driver was unsuccessful in attempts to put it back in the bed and was leaving the scene.

Police subsequently pulled over Cawley in his truck that he was driving west on Route 30 “at a high rate of speed.”

Jandric reported Cawley claimed he was working for another man he only knew as “Lewis,” who had instructed him to pick up a stove and microwave in the development and transport it to another “unknown location.”

In the meantime, police called the housing development manager at Ryan Homes, who reported Cawley had no authorization to be on the property and he believed the same truck was used in at least two other thefts.

Police also obtained a cellphone video from one of the original callers who captured Cawley leaving the vacant house along the 6500 block of Antonio Drive. The stove with attached microwave was valued at more than $1,000, police said.

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