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Two Fort Wayne men are facing numerous felony charges after police said they admitted to stealing parts from air-conditioning units and selling them for cash at a scrap metal business.
Marc Edward Zumwalt, 34, of the 2100 block of Fruehauf Drive, was charged with corrupt business influence, four counts of forgery, six counts of theft and operating a vehicle after having been given a lifetime suspension. Maurice Alan Stantz, 50, of the 2900 block of Fruehauf Drive, was charged with corrupt business influence, six counts of theft, two counts of aiding forgery, driving with a suspended license and speeding.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Fort Wayne police Wednesday, police had received at least 118 theft complaints this year involving the theft and destruction of air-conditioning units. In most cases, the units’ condensers and attached copper tubing were removed.
On Dec. 10, police said, officers spoke to the yard manager at Hoosier Metal Recycling in Fort Wayne and learned that Zumwalt often brought large amounts of scrap air-conditioner condensers and copper tubing to the business and had been there twice already that day.
Using a description of the pickup truck that the manager said Zumwalt drives, police were able to find Zumwalt’s home and spent several days watching Zumwalt and Stantz drive to different businesses, including Dietech Corp. in Decatur, Fort Wayne Medical Oncology, Cintas, Come as You Are Community Church and other locations where they either stole or tried to steal air-conditioning units, police said.
On Tuesday, police said, the men went to Hoosier Metal Recycling, where Zumwalt signed a cash receipt that said he was the rightful owner of the scrap metal that he was selling.
That same day, police said, the two men went to OmniSource, and Zumwalt signed a false name on a cash receipt that again stated he was the rightful owner of the scrap metal.
When police arrested the two men that day, after watching them steal two large condensers and copper tubing from Dietech Corp. and stopping their vehicle, both men confessed to having stolen air-conditioning units and trying to steal units several times between Dec. 11 and Tuesday, court documents said.
Both men told police that they had not been legally employed for several months and were using the scrap metal sales as their only source of income, police said.
Police said Zumwalt and Stantz engaged in an “enterprise” through a “pattern of racketeering activity” to steal scrap metal and sell it illegally for financial gain.
Zumwalt was being held at the Allen County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
Stantz was being held at the Allen County Jail without bail.
aslutsky@jg.net
