A Palmerton man has been charged with stealing a truck and driving it through the gate of a Franklin Township business.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Franklin Township police Chief Jason Doll:

At 10:20 a.m. March 25, Doll was dispatched to the Beltzville Manor Marina for the report of a theft.

Doll met with the owner, who said that at 2:40 a.m. earlier that day someone entered the lot and drove out smashing through the gate with their 2003 Dodge pickup.

The owner said they leave the keys in the truck because it is locked in the yard, and noted that the truck has its own registration plate on it, and also has a dealer plate inside that they use to move the boats around.

That vehicle, as well as the other registration plate, were entered into NCIC.

On March 26, Doll was called to the business to meet with the owner who showed him a bag of items that were found just outside of their lot in a farm field just east of his property by the man who farms the land.

The owner said the items were not there the day before the theft. The items in the bag were two lighters, cigarettes, a glove, and a credit card bearing the name Robert Dreste III, 30, of Palmerton.

At 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, Palmerton Police department received a dispatch to a call of a suspicious vehicle parked in the lot of a nursing home in the borough.

When the officers from Palmerton approached, the vehicle fled and police attempted to stop it.

A pursuit of the vehicle began and ended in the 800 block of Delaware Avenue when the vehicle came to a stop and Dreste, along with a female passenger, ran from the vehicle.

Dreste was caught by a Palmerton officer, at which time Doll matched the VIN number from this vehicle to the truck that was stolen from Beltzville Manor Marina.

Dreste was then taken to the Palmerton police station to be interviewed, but he just continued to cry and say, “I am (expletive) either way.”

Dreste said he was with his girlfriend and they were homeless.

Doll then asked if they were looking for some place to sleep the night the truck was taken, and Dreste said, “I was just so cold and she was cold.”

Doll then asked if that was why Dreste took the truck to stay warm, but he would not answer.

Dreste faces charges of theft by unlawful taking or disposition; defiant trespass; and criminal mischief.

He is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $5,000 bail, and is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing April 8 before District Judge William Kissner of Palmerton.