Man arrested in October fire truck theft in Colonie; Truck later recovered abandoned in Schenectady

Jul. 25—COLONIE — A man from Maine has been arrested in connection with an October theft of a fire truck from a training facility in Colonie, police said.

Ted L. Zarins, 29, of Wallagrass, Maine, was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree grand larceny, third-degree burglary and third-degree grand larceny, felonies.

Zarins is accused of taking the Albany Fire Department fire truck from the Colonie Municipal Training Building in October. The truck was later recovered in Schenectady, about 10 miles away from where it was taken, in the 1500 block of State Street, authorities said then.

Police in Colonie later determined that Zarins had been arrested, arraigned and released by another police agency in October for driving a vehicle that had been reported stolen in Fort Kent, Maine, police said.

The same day as his release, Zarins was walking in the Latham area and burglarized the Colonie training facility. He stole property from inside the building, consisting of firefighting equipment belonging to the state Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services. He then stole the fire truck, officials said.

After abandoning the fire truck in Schenectady, police said he then returned to Colonie, where he was able to steal a vehicle from a car dealership. That vehicle was later found in Hartford, Conn. Zarins was arrested there on other charges and released to Colonie police this past week.

Zarins was arraigned on the Colonie charges and ordered held on bail.

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