Kyler Lee Northrup,

LEESBURG — A Garrett man has been arrested after stealing an ATV from a Leesburg residence in December. The police were able to identify the thief by watching surveillance of the him showing up to a probation meeting with the ATV.

Kyler Lee Northrup, 32, 910 West King Street, Garrett, is being charged with auto theft, a level 6 felony.

A Leesburg couple originally reported their yellow Honda ATV stolen sometime near Dec. 16, 2016. The ATV was valued at $2,000.

On March 30, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department was working an unrelated case. He spoke with a man who stated that on Dec. 16, 2016, Northrup arrived at his residence with a yellow Honda ATV and confessed he had stolen it. Northrup asked the man to go with him to a probation meeting in DeKalb County. After the probation meeting, Northrup dropped the ATV off at someone’s residence.

The officer contacted a Noble County detective for more information. The detective advised that a search warrant was conducted on the mentioned residence in January. Photographs from the search show a yellow ATV sitting outside. The ATV was not filed as stolen. The detective received another search warrant in March but the ATV was no longer at the residence.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the officer then spoke with the DeKalb County Probation Office. Employees were able to confirm that Northrup was at the probation department on Dec. 16, 2016 and provided surveillance video of the parking area. The video shows Northup arriving in a truck that had a yellow Honda ATV in the bed.

The officer then spoke with the owners of the ATV who were able to properly identify the stolen ATV as theirs.

Northup was arrested on Aug. 29 and booked into the Kosciusko County Jail with a $5,250 surety and cash bond.