A Vassalboro man was arrested in connection with the theft of this 2021 Forest River Cherokee Grey Wolf from a parking lot used by Scott’s Recreation in Manchester. Maine Department of Public Safety photo
VASSALBORO — A Vassalboro man was arrested this week for allegedly stealing a camper from a Manchester dealership where it had been brought in for service this spring, state officials said.
Christopher Vogel, 46, was arrested Tuesday by the Kennebec County Sherriff’s Office on charges of receiving stolen property and violating conditions of release.
State troopers assigned to the case chased “dozens of leads” over several months that led them across central Maine and to Oxford County, Bangor and the Midcoast region before receiving a tip leading to a Vassalboro property, according to Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The 29-foot 2021 Forest River Grey Wolf Cherokee camper was recovered at a property in that town on Mineral Springs Lane.
It had been reported missing in April from a parking lot used by Scott’s Recreation at 746 Western Ave. in Manchester.
Jessica Dusoe, the vehicle’s owner, said the camper was retrieved after a “landowner dispute” that resulted in someone sending a photo of the camper and its VIN number to law enforcement after having reading on Facebook and in the newspaper that a similar vehicle was missing. The inside of the camper was “utterly disgusting,” Dusoe said, with animal feces, rotted floors, mold, food and garbage strewn about.
Police have recovered one of two campers reported stolen in the last year from Scott’s Recreation in Manchester. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file
The vehicle, valued at $35,000, is considered totaled, Dusoe said.
Her camper was the second one reported missing from the Manchester dealership in the last year. An 18-foot Forest River Wolf Pup was reported stolen from the same overflow lot last October after the owner brought the camper to be serviced. That vehicle has not been located.
When contacted about Dusoe’s camper in April, Scott’s Recreation said the business has since installed cameras.
Even though the camper is unable to be used, Dusoe said she is “happy it was recovered.”
“We honestly thought we would never see it again, although (it was) incredibly damaged in just a short three months, and that my family and the mass amount of support from those on social media have closure as people were continuing to reach out and share posts about potential sightings,” she said. “We no longer need to look at every camper on the road that looks like ours and wonder.”
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