Salford man jailed for theft of ATV

NORRISTOWN >> A Salford man is on his way to jail after he admitted to stealing an all-terrain vehicle from a township residence.

William Franklin Snyder, 19, of the 200 block of Barndt Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 3-to23-months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of theft by unlawful taking and criminal trespass in connection with the September 2017 incident.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also ordered Snyder to complete three years’ probation following parole, meaning Snyder will be under court supervision for about five years. The judge ordered Snyder to pay the victim $3,900 in restitution and to stay away from the victim as conditions of the sentence.

Snyder also must undergo drug and alcohol evaluations and comply with all recommendations for treatment, the judge said. O’Neill said Snyder will be placed under substance abuse disorder supervision during his parole and probationary period and must be in treatment.

An investigation began on Sept. 6, 2017, when state police at Skippack were dispatched to investigate a report of a theft of an ATV from a garage of a residence in the 200 block of Dietz Mill Road in Salford. The victim told police he parked the ATV in the garage on Sept. 5 and when he returned to the garage at 7 a.m. Sept. 6 he discovered it was gone, according to the criminal complaint filed by state police Trooper Mark Musser.

During the investigation, which also involved Franconia police, authorities developed Snyder as a suspect in the theft. During a subsequent interview by police on Oct. 12, 2017, Snyder “related he entered an open barn and removed a Polaris ATV,” according to the criminal complaint.

Court documents do not indicate if the ATV was recovered.