2 caught stealing scrap metal from plant

Two Lima men were caught in the act of taking scrap metal from a local business on Saturday.

According to a Van Wert police report, a former employee of Kennedy Manufacturing Inc., 1260 Industrial Ave., saw two men in a truck leaving the Van Wert Industrial Park and recognized scrap metal in the back of the truck as having come from Kennedy.

The man then notified police who stopped the truck and called Rick Shupe of Kennedy to come out and identify the scrap metal, which he did.

The two men, Fred Peoples Jr., 39, and Michael E. Kidd, 54, were both arrested and charged with theft in connection with the incident.

There were incarcerated in the Van Wert County Correctional Facility and will appear in Van Wert Municipal Court on the charge.