Youth arrested for car theft

Travis James Gothberg, 15, of Sisters, landed in juvenile detention after he allegedly stole a pickup truck and rammed it through the fire gates in Crossroads.

According to sheriff's office reports, Barclay Contractors employees reported a 1989 Ford pickup stolen from their yard on July 6.

On July 10, the truck reappeared at the yard with its front end damaged. A sheriff's deputy investigated and found shoe prints and distinctive bicycle tracks by the truck.

After hearing about a youth who had been seen loitering in the area on a bicycle, the deputy allegedly deduced that the youth described was Gothberg and that he might be involved in the truck theft and criminal mischief to the Crossroads fire gates.

The deputy found distinctive tracks at the scene of the criminal mischief, according to sheriff's office reports.

The deputy contacted Gothberg at his home in Crossroads and noted that the youth's shoe prints and bicycle treads matched those he had seen earlier.

Gothberg allegedly confessed to the theft of the truck and acknowledged that he took the truck to Crossroads.

"There," the report states, "he crashed it through the fire gates because he wanted to see what 'it would do' and then he stashed it in the woods for the next several nights."

Gothberg allegedly drove the truck during the day until it ran low on gas then returned it to the Barclay Contractors yard.

Gothberg also turned over a jacket he had taken from the truck, according to reports.

Gothberg was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, first degree criminal mischief, both Class C felonies, and with third degree theft.