Police log

December 31, 2002

W.Va. man charged with grand larceny

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A Martinsburg, W.Va., man was arrested Saturday following the theft of a vehicle from a church in Charles Town and the sounding of an alarm at an 84 Lumber store in Berkeley County, court records said.

The string of incidents started when 911 dispatchers received a call about an alarm at an 84 Lumber store along W.Va. 9 east of Martinsburg about 3:47 a.m. Saturday, according to Jefferson County Magistrate Court records.

A West Virginia State Police trooper arrived, climbed over a fence into the lumber yard and spotted a man crawling out of a large sliding door, court records said.

The trooper obtained a statement from the man in which he said he had entered the building and was looking for money, court records said. The trooper also questioned the man about a white minivan parked at the Britt-Getty Law Offices next door, court records said.

The man told the trooper he stole the van from Harvest Point Baptist Church along U.S. 340 in Charles Town, court records said.

Randy Scott Taylor, 34, of 128 West Virginia Drive, was charged with grand larceny and petty larceny, court records said.

Taylor was being held in the Eastern Regional Jail Monday night on $20,000 bond, jail officials said.

Fire breaks out in elevator equipment

RANSON, W.Va. - A small fire broke out in a piece of elevator equipment at Jefferson Memorial Hospital Thursday, a fire official said.

The fire started in an electric motor, said Ed Smith, chief of the Independent Fire Co. Flames were shooting out of the motor but the fire had gone out by the time firefighters arrived, Smith said.

The mechanism was located in a third-floor room where fans and other equipment are located, Smith said.

Firefighters removed smoke from the area after getting the call around noon, Smith said.

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