A West Gardiner man is facing felony theft charges after allegedly stealing tools valued at $5,000 from a Richmond construction site.

Casey Weeks, 26, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with theft, Richmond Police Chief Scott MacMaster said.

Weeks was being held Thursday afternoon at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, but jail officials expected him to be released on $1,000 cash bail.

Weeks was arrested after a passerby noticed three men loading tools and equipment into a white pickup truck around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at the construction site of the new Down East Federal Credit Union on Main Street.

The truck was gone when Richmond police Officer Rita Marquis got to the site, MacMaster said.

Less than 20 minutes later, however, Gardiner Officer Peter Griffin pulled over a pickup matching the description of the vehicle on Route 24 in Gardiner.

Griffin recognized several tools when he approached the truck, MacMaster said.

“The construction company working on building the credit union labels all their equipment,” MacMaster said. “We were able to determine quite quickly the tools belonged to the construction company.”

Weeks, who was driving, was charged with theft. A male passenger, who police did not identify, was not charged.

The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible, MacMaster said.

Losing the equipment would have delayed and perhaps stopped construction on the credit union, MacMaster said.

“Due to (Griffin’s) swift action, we were able to recover and turn back more than $5,000 worth of construction tools,” MacMaster said. “The company was extremely excited to get the tools back.”