Ryan Arthur Smith

WARSAW — A Leesburg man faces a theft charge after taking items from his workplace home with him.

Ryan Arthur Smith, 35, 117 EMS T16 Lane, Leesburg, is charged with theft, a level 6 felony.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed at the Kosciusko County Clerk’s Office, police officers were called to Maple Leaf Farms where they received a report from an employee about another employee, Smith, stealing items from the company’s truck maintenance shop. The reporting party said several co-workers of Smith’s had reported the theft on March 22.

Police said the witness told them Smith had admitted to a manager that he’d taken the items, but that he was just borrowing them.

Police observed surveillance video, which showed a Maple Leaf truck leaving the property with a pallet jack in the back and later returning without the jack.

Police spoke with Smith who admitted to stealing the items and returned the taken property to the investigating officer. Stolen were a pallet jack, air tank, die grinder, brake spring, jack stands and a wire welder valued at $2,100.

Smith is due in court for an initial hearing at 1 p.m. April 27 in Kosciusko County’s Superior Court 2.