DUBOIS – A New Jersey man is facing charges for allegedly reporting his tractor-trailer stolen after he abandoned it because fuel was leaking out.
Samuel A. Procopio Jr., 55, 14 Johnson Pl., Edgewater, New Jersey, was charged with false reports, accident to unattended vehicle or property and failure to notify police of accident by Sandy Township Police on May 3. The charges stem from an incident on April 27.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Procopio called police and stated his tractor-trailer had been stolen from the Pilot Travel Center along Rich Highway. He told police he dropped off a load at DuBois Logistics and then traveled to the Pilot Travel Center.
He parked the truck, took a nap in the sleeper and then went into the business to take a shower. When he returned about an hour later, the truck was gone. He said he had left it running because the starter on the truck was acting up.
He gave police a description of the vehicle but did not know any of the plate numbers. He called the owner to advise him of the situation. The owner said someone would call back with the truck registration information and VIN number.
Although Procopio claimed he had taken a shower and had a trash bag that contained clothes, the officer could smell a strong odor of diesel fuel coming from him. The officer also noted that Procopio didn’t seem concerned about the theft of the truck and this officer had a feeling something was not right with his story.
Later that day, the truck was found in DuBois behind the Peking Restaurant. It was up over a curb and the gas tank had been ruptured, disabling the vehicle. This location was between DuBois Logistics and Pilot. The officer felt Procopio was not telling the truth about it being stolen.
When the officer called Procopio, he was 60 miles away. This officer questioned Procopio telling him he thought he had made up the story about the truck being stolen. He advised Procopio that the Pilot station had video surveillance of all the trucks that entered the lot and he was going to be checking to see if the truck was ever in the lot.
After Procopio was told this was going to be the only opportunity to tell the truth, he stated he was sorry for wasting the officer’s time, but he had panicked and didn’t know what to do. He admitted he was the one who got the truck stuck and disabled it on the curb. He added that he tried to plug the hole in the tank with a branch from a tree, once he realized how much fuel was leaking and how expensive the clean up bill would be.
The City of DuBois Public Works Department and the City of DuBois Fire Department did respond for the containment and mitigation of the fuel spilled. The cost was $1,543.32.
Procopio is scheduled for a preliminary hearing during centralized court in District Judge Patrick Ford’s office on June 3.
