A Leesburg couple was arrested after allegedly stealing aluminum pipe and selling it to a Leesburg metal recycling company.
Leesburg Police Department detectives had been investigating the theft of aluminum piping from One Stop Thermocooling & Heating at 2317 Griffin Road in Leesburg which occurred on Nov. 17. The detectives viewed the company’s video of a four-door car with a missing hubcap pulling into One Stop’s lot. A man and woman got out of the car and loaded $1,950 worth of piping into the vehicle.
The detectives then went to Inter-County Recycling which is close to One Stop’s shop. Inter-County had recently purchased the stolen pipe from 41-year-old Jason Dale Howard who had to give the company a copy of his driver’s license and a thumb print. A detective also viewed a video provided by Inter-County which showed Howard and a woman identified as 59-year-old Maria Lynn Mannino unloading the pipe from the same car caught on surveillance at One Stop.
Howard and Mannino were tracked down at an address on Montclair Road. After their arrests, both admitted to stealing the pipe. They were charged with dealing in stolen property and theft. Howard and Mannino were booked at the Lake County Jail with bond set at $12,000 for each of them.
