Two Palmerton men have been charged with stealing an ATV and guns after breaking into a storage facility in Lower Towamensing Township.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by officer Ryan English of the Pennsylvania State Police, Lehighton barracks, in the case against Jarred Dillman, 34, and Joshua Hoffman, 30:

At 12:07 p.m. July 17, state police were dispatched to a home in the 1800 block of Little Gap Road, for the report of a burglary of a commercial storage facility with 36 storage units.

Police determined that the someone forced entry into the facility by breaking an exterior lock. Inside, the burglars cut and drilled numerous locks on enclosed trailers and campers, entered vehicles and rummaged through personal property.

Property stolen included a 2021 Polaris Sportsman 570, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .22 caliber rifle, and a 30-30 bolt-action rifle and various other items from 11 storage units.

The next day the storage facility owner notified police that the stolen 2021 Polaris Sportsman 570 was located and returned to her residence on Little Gap Road by a man and his cousin.

The man said he located the ATV in a sand quarry on Little Gap Road. The man said he saw Dillman driving the ATV on Hahns Dairy Road in Lower Towamensing Township and he made the connection with a Facebook post about the stolen ATV.

The ATV was abandoned in the quarry with the key in the ignition.

On July 19, state police were dispatched to a home in the 3700 block of Little Gap Road for the report of a found 30-30 rifle. Residents said a man on an ATV dropped the rifle while prowling on the property on the night of July 17.

One man told police his cousin contacted him and said that he located a stolen ATV behind a home in the 2600 block of Little Gap Road.

He said his cousin asked him if he would help him return the ATV to the storage facility.

The stolen ATV was in a wooded area behind the property at Little Gap Road, with a rifle sitting on top of it, gas cans, and a lawn mower engine.

Police said they met with Hoffman, who admitted to stealing the ATV. After the meeting, they came up with the story that the rifle was dropped by an unknown person that was on his uncle’s property. They contacted state police to report that they “found” the rifle on the property.

On Aug. 5, Dillman confessed to his involvement in the burglary of the storage facility.

Dillman said they entered the facility through a big bay door at night and rummaged through the units. They stole the ATV, and to transport various stolen property. Dillman said that he last saw the long guns on the four-wheeler outside the storage facility.

Dillman said that there were tents and a Trek bicycle at his residence that he stole from a home in the 300 block of Forest Drive in Palmerton. Dillman is prohibited from possessing firearms due to a 2009 robbery conviction.

Dillman and Hoffman both face charges of burglary, theft by unlawful taking, conspiracy, receiving stolen property, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, possession of firearm prohibited.

Dillman is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $75,000 cash bail, and scheduled to have a preliminary hearing March 12 before District Judge William J. Kissner of Palmerton.

Hoffman’s case is currently inactive, as he is awaiting a preliminary hearing.