A $600,000 cement truck with its door open and keys still in the ignition apparently presented quite the opportunity outside Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium this week. According to information the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police provided to 10/11 NOW, 38-year-old Michael Danaher was arrested Tuesday after the truck was found missing from Stadium Drive.
The truck belonged to National Concrete Cutting Company, but whoever drove it away had another piece of equipment to worry about besides all that concrete machinery. Police told the outlet that a tracking device inside the vehicle led officers to the area of NW 1st Street and Nance Avenue.
While officers were heading toward the tracked vehicle, they learned an employee of National Concrete Cutting Company had already found the truck and was confronting the suspect. Officers arrived to find the employee and Danaher just north of the missing truck, according to the news report.
Danaher was taken to the Lancaster County Jail before later being evaluated by staff at Bryan West Hospital to determine whether he was medically fit to remain in custody. It was reported that he was subsequently returned to jail and arrested on suspicion of theft by unlawful taking of property valued at more than $5,000.
Jail Records Show Another Charge Not Mentioned in Initial Report
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Lancaster County Department of Corrections records, independently reviewed for this story, confirm that Danaher, 38, was booked into the facility on September 15 under booking number 2026007391. The county record lists the theft charge under docket number CR2610108 and does not display a projected release date.
However, the jail record contains another detail not included in the news report’s account of the cement truck theft. In addition to theft by unlawful taking of property valued at $5,000 or more, the county lists possession of a controlled substance among Danaher’s charges.
The available inmate record does not provide any circumstances explaining that controlled-substance charge, and the news report does not mention drugs being recovered during the cement truck investigation. Without additional police or court records connecting the charge to the incident, it is unclear whether it stems directly from Danaher’s September 15 arrest.
Few Additional Details Released About $600K Cement Truck Theft
10/11 NOW reports that Danaher is scheduled for a hearing on October 27, but details of exactly what happened between the truck leaving Stadium Drive and its being tracked down remain limited. A search of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department’s website and social media pages did not turn up an additional public police report or statement concerning the incident at the time of writing.
National Concrete Cutting Company similarly does not appear to have issued a public statement concerning the theft. The company’s employee nevertheless played an unusually direct role in the recovery described by the news station, as police told the outlet that the employee was already confronting the suspect at the stolen truck while officers were still en route.
For now, the public accounts leave the tracking device doing much of the heavy lifting in explaining how a truck valued at more than half a million dollars was recovered. The news report establishes the circumstances police provided concerning the theft, while county jail records independently confirm Danaher’s booking and reveal the additional controlled-substance charge not addressed in the initial reporting.