Case against Hyannis man charged with theft of tools dismissed

Doug Fraser
Updated ·1 min read

EDITOR'S NOTE: The charge against Thomas Telford was dismissed on Dec. 11, 2018, at the request of the assistant Cape and Islands District Attorney who was prosecuting the case.

ORLEANS — A 34-year-old Hyannis man pleaded not guilty to stealing and selling his boss’s remodeling tools, worth over $32,000.

Thomas Telford admitted to stealing the tools to pay for drugs, according to the statement of Randy Avrin contained in Orleans District Court records. In the statement, Avrin said his employee Telford stole the tools in March while Avrin was incarcerated at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility. When Avrin confronted him after his release, Telford said he stole the tools "because he was using drugs,” according to the statement.

Avrin did not report the theft to police, but instead took his complaint to a court magistrate, who ruled there was probable cause to charge Telford, according to court records. Telford is due back in Orleans court Jan. 11 for a pretrial hearing on the charge of larceny over $250.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Case against Hyannis man charged with theft of tools dismissed