Parolee sentenced for stealing truck from Exeter dealership

WILKES-BARRE — A man from Wyoming on parole was sentenced to state prison Tuesday for stealing a Ford pickup truck from a dealership in Exeter in December.

Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Patrick Perry, 66, to two years, six months to five years in prison on a theft charge. Perry pled guilty to the charge March 1.

Perry was charged by Wyoming Area Regional Police after state parole agents with assistance from Plains Township police stopped him while driving a 2019 Ford F250 truck in Plains Township on Dec. 11.

Agents from the state parole department were tracking Perry through electronic monitoring, knowing Perry had a suspended driver’s license, according to court records.

Perry admitted he stole the truck from a dealership on Wyoming Avenue, Exeter.

The owner of the truck told police her vehicle was at the dealership for service.

After Perry allegedly stole the truck, he told police he went to a junkyard in Duryea and removed a license plate from a junked vehicle he used to replace the registered license plate to the Ford. Perry claimed he discarded the Ford plate in a dumpster near a bar in Pittston, court records say.

Police in court records say the Ford sustained damage when it was in Perry’s possession.

Perry was ordered to pay $4,100 in restitution to the Ford’s owner.