A Danielsville man has been charged with breaking into a property and stealing over $1,400 worth of tools.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Matthew Enstrom of the Lehigh Township Police Department in the case against John Gallagher:

At 1:30 p.m. Dec. 29, police were called to a home in the 400 block of Willow Road for a report of a man who was stealing items from a neighbor’s property.

The caller said that Gallagher, 49, went inside the enclosed porch at a neighboring property in the 400 block of Willow Road and took some items that were inside the porch, put the items in his vehicle and left.

Some of the items were tools that were inside 5-gallon buckets.

The caller said Gallagher told him his name was John and he would cut down the tall grasses for them.

After Gallagher left, the caller followed his blue Chevrolet Trailblazer to Turkey Hill on Lehigh Drive in Cherryville, and took photos of the vehicle and Gallagher as he pumped fuel.

Gallagher left Turkey Hill and headed north on Dogwood Road. The caller said he was traveling at a high rate of speed and passing cars. He lost sight of the vehicle on Dogwood Road in the area of Woodstone Golf Club.

The photos showed the vehicle owner is not the man who entered the home on Willow Drive and was driving the blue Chevrolet Trailblazer.

On Jan. 12, the property owner faxed a list of the stolen tools to Lehigh Township Police Department that contained various power tools and were valued at $1,400.

Police talked to the owner of the vehicle, who said they allowed a man named “John” to use the vehicle since he was doing some landscaping work and asked to borrow the car. He was hired to do some landscaping work around the house, never finished and didn’t bring back the vehicle. When he finally did, there was a sales receipt from Great Metal Recycling in the car.

The husband said that he heard that Gallagher was in jail, so police met with Gallagher at the Northampton County Prison. Gallagher refused to talk without a lawyer.

Gallagher faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass - breaking into structure; theft by unlawful taking or disposition; and receiving stolen property.

He is currently incarcerated in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $35,000 monetary bail, and scheduled to have a preliminary hearing March 2 before District Judge Robert A. Hawke of Walnutport.