70°
Jose Deleon-Cotto, 52, was arrested after being stopped on Middletown Road in Nanuet on Saturday, Feb. 20, police said.
He was initially pulled over -- after he left a new business construction area -- because the trailer attached to the truck he was driving had no brake lights, police said.
However, the arresting officer discovered that the trailer, on which Deleon-Cotto was hauling a mini-excavator, had been stolen from the East Ramapo school district, police said.
The whole rig was towed to a police facility. The trailer was worth an estimated $5,000, police said.
Police said they are trying to determine if the mini-excavator was stolen as well.
Deleon-Cotto was charged with third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony; second-degree possession of a forged instrument, a felony; and numerous traffic infractions, police said.
He was arraigned in Clarkstown Court and held on $15,000 bail, police said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Clarkstown and receive free news updates.
