Whatcom man sold one welder and pawned another, but police say he didn’t own either
A Whatcom County man allegedly sold a $5,000 welder that he borrowed and pawned another $6,000 unit that he had rented from a Bellingham company.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office booked Thomas Edward Trent, 33, into Whatcom County Jail Thursday on suspicion of second-degree theft and first-degree trafficking.
According to information provided by Chief Deputy Kevin Hester in an email Thursday to The Bellingham Herald, the Sheriff’s Office was notified by one of the victims on Dec. 6 that Trent had sold a Lincoln C300 welder that the victim said he loaned to Trent to weld aluminum railings for his business. The victim told detectives Trent had not completed the requested work and had become unreliable, so he attempted to contact Trent to retrieve his welder, which was valued at $5,000. Trent reportedly said he had sold the welder.
Detectives checked online and found that Trent had pawned a C300 welder Dec. 1 at Bellingham Pawn for $1,000, police documents state. Detectives then contacted Bellingham Pawn and were told Trent had gotten the welder out of Pawn on Dec. 4 and saw him sell in a nearby parking lot.
Surveillance footage showed Trent, the transaction and the license plate of the truck of the person who had bought the welder, police documents state.
Detectives contacted the man who had bought the welder. Police documents state he told them he had purchased the welder for $2,000 after responding to an ad on Craigslist, and detectives confirmed the serial number on the welder was the same as the one Trent had pawned.
Detectives also discovered that Trent had rented a Lincoln 350 MP from Central Welding Supply in Bellingham and confirmed that he had pawned a machine with the same serial number Dec. 1 at Bellingham Pawn for $750, the documents said.
Detectives spoke to Central Welding Supply, which reportedly told them Trent was “several thousand dollars” behind on his rental fees and they had been unsuccessful in getting the welder, which is valued at $6,000, back from Trent.
When detectives spoke to Trent, he said he thought the C300 welder was given to him as a gift, police documents state, but later said he spoke to the victim about purchasing the welder. Thomas also reportedly admitted to pawing the 350 MP welder, because he thought he owned it once Central Welding Supply took him to collections.
Hester said Trent was arrested at his residence without incident.
