The state police auto theft task force used surveillance videos this week to track stolen UTVs for 7 miles — from the lot of a John Deere dealership in Salem to a rural home in Loyalhanna, near Saltsburg.

Police said they eventually recovered five recently stolen vehicles, valued at $100,000, pilfered from dealerships in Butler and Westmoreland counties.

On Wednesday, troopers filed charges of criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property and theft against four people they allege were involved in the scheme that occurred over two months from West Central Equipment locations in Butler, New Alexandria and Ebensburg, Cambria County.

No vehicles were taken from the Ebensburg location, but troopers said they recovered multiple UTV accessories, including tires, that were stolen there.

Dominic A. Hayward, 22, of Gilpin and his girlfriend, Stephanie A. Suman, 22, of Loyalhanna, were arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Denise Thiel in Westmoreland County in connection with the thefts police say began last month. Neither could be reached for comment.

Two other suspects, Austin L. Randall, 20, and his wife, Destiny K. Morgan, 21, both of Butler, were expected to be arraigned before Westmoreland County District Judge Jason Buczak in Washington Township. Destiny Morgan and Suman are sisters, according to Trooper Jason Morgan, who filed the complaints.

Troopers recovered all five of the vehicles, commonly known as “Gators.” Three of four vehicles stolen between late Sunday and early Monday were recovered at Suman’s residence at 110 Walnut Road in Loyalhanna. One of the camouflage-colored UTVs was repainted red after the theft and hidden in woods near Suman’s home, Morgan said.

A fourth UTV stolen from the Butler store April 9 was recovered at Randall and Destiny Morgan’s residence on Brown Avenue in Butler.

Trooper Morgan reported in court documents that a fifth vehicle ran out of gas along the eastbound lanes of Route 22 shortly after it was driven off the lot about 1 a.m. Monday. A Mutual Aid ambulance reported the vehicle abandoned along the four-lane highway just west of New Alexandria, according to police reports.

After the thefts Sunday and Monday, Morgan said troopers obtained multiple surveillance videos from the dealership, private residences and a Sheetz store in New Alexandria police say showed two men, Hayward and Randall, being dropped off in a car on Archway Road in Salem, next to the dealership there.

Morgan said the video shows the pair cutting a chain gate using industrial bolt cutters and then driving two UTVs off the lot. Police said other videos along the 7-mile route to Suman’s Saltsburg home showed a gold Chrysler sedan start following the stolen UTVs and “working in tandem.”

A surveillance tape from Sheetz in New Alexandria, where the Chrysler parked, later revealed the license plate showed the car was registered to Destiny Morgan. From the Sheetz on Route 22, Morgan said multiple videos show the stolen UTVs heading north on Route 981 toward Suman’s Walnut Road home.

The two men were later seen on security video returning to the Salem dealership and driving two more UTVs off the lot, Morgan said. The pair were dropped off in a “different red or maroon Chrysler sedan” that was registered to Suman, court records said.

According to police, the suspects said during interviews this week they returned to get the UTV that ran out of gas on Route 22 but were scared off after seeing the ambulance there.

Morgan said troopers kept Suman’s home under surveillance for three days before filing complaints Wednesday.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled May 27 before Buczak.

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