BETHEL — Corey Emerson, 41, was charged June 5 with possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, VCR, Possession of firearm by unauthorized person, according to Sheriff Christopher Wainwright. Along with Emerson, Kayla Day, 35, was charged with three counts of unauthorized use of a Motor vehicle, Theft. Operating after revocation HO Possession of a firearm by prohibited person, VCR, Possession of scheduled W. Possession of scheduled Z.
From left: Corey Emerson and Kayla Day.
Both arrests were made in Albany.
The story begins on Wednesday, May 31 when Amy Chapman, of Greenwood, was mowing the grass at The Robinson House on Broad Street in Bethel when her truck, parked nearby was stolen. It was at 2:13 p.m. (as recorded on the bank’s camera) in an area of Bethel Village where many people are coming and going from Northeast Bank, Town Office and the Bethel Citizen.
“It’s so pathetic really, you know they must be just out of their heads and desperate,” Chapman said of the brazen crime.
Four days later and only half a mile from where Chapman’s truck was taken, Photographer Shelby Maniatty’s black Toyota Rav4 was stolen. Maniatty, of Mason, said she was inside the Big Apple store on Railroad Street for under three minutes when someone took off in her car with all of her camera gear. It was 10 p.m. on Saturday night and she had just returned from photographing a wedding in Fryeburg. She had gone inside the store to buy a drink and use the bathroom.
Chapman
Chapman said just before she went inside Robinson House to charge her battery for the lawn mower, she noticed a girl walk over from Mason Street and lie down in the summer house. She commented to her son, “I hope she’s done with her nap before I go out and start mowing again and wake her up.”
Following the theft, Randy Bennett, of Bethel searched the grounds and found a needle, tourniquet and other supplies on an upper shelf in the summer shed (or gazebo) on the Bethel Historical Society property.
Deputy Willie Nelson who responded to Chapman’s 911 call, took the needle and tourniquet as evidence, she said.
Chapman’s 2010 Ford Ranger pick-up was later recovered after someone reported seeing it with no license plates going up Rowe Hill Road in Greenwood. The people driving the stolen vehicle reportedly ran into the woods leaving the vehicle at a location the deputies seemed familiar with said Chapman.
“There seem to be places all over town … that everybody knows [about] and no one can do anything.”
Some 137 shares and 86 comments on Chapman’s post on Facebook’s Team Bethel may have helped with the recovery of the truck. Some comments were from people who blamed drug addicts for the car thefts and also for stealing Charlie Bean’s gems from his Newry shop earlier this year.
“They are really ruining people’s peace of mind… you feel so violated.
“I don’t know her [Maniatty] but I feel so bad for her. I feel like if they had been caught and gone to jail, this wouldn’t have happened… It’s really frustrating that everyone in town knows exactly who it is and they can’t catch them,” said Chapman.
Maniatty
Maniatty had nearly all of her photography gear in the car: two Canon camera bodies, expensive Canon lenses, her camera bags, SD cards, flash gear. “Everything was new and expensive,” but unfortunately was not fully covered by insurance. She estimates it was worth around $10,000. It was her livelihood.
She had removed the SD cards from the wedding she had just photographed, “Thankfully I don’t have to disappoint a couple on their wedding day,” she said.
Maniatty said she does not hold out any hope that her gear will be recovered.
Because she was parked directly under the exterior camera at The Big Apple, the deputies were able to get positive ID’s and locate her car.
It was returned with a dead battery and stripped of her cameras.
The next day Maniatty’s boyfriend, Matthew Gaudet went to a Flat Road address and confronted the alleged thieves, he led the deputies to the address, but the couple, minutes earlier, had run into the woods. A neighbor told Maniatty the couple later left in a silver Volkswagen Tiguan.
“He [the driver of the Volkswagen] was also spotted with them when they stole the red truck [owned by Amy Chapman].” said Maniatty.
Around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Gaudet saw the Volkswagen on Mason Street in Bethel. He followed the car, driving as fast as 100 miles per hour as he chased it on Vernon Street.
Eventually the car pulled off the road on Crooked River Causeway, Albany Township. Gaudet did not follow and instead waited for the deputies. When they arrived, the deputies decided to hold off on making a move until later that night.
The deputies told Maniatty this was the third car in a week stolen by this couple.
“They have positive ID’s of them stealing my car, there is video footage. They just need to find them. They got away,” she said. On Tuesday the arrests were made and Maniatty’s gear was found unharmed. Emerson and Day will be arraigned on Wednesday, according to Wainwright.
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