In the latest in our Daily Business News periodic reports on problematic, or allegations of illegal behavior that occur in the industry, a Pennsylvania man who stole a manufactured home in a storage lot was sentenced last week.

Robert D. Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny, a felony, for what the PostStar described as a $60,000, 70’ manufactured home.

The September 2013 theft occurred when a professional manufactured home transporter (a.k.a. ‘toter driver’) took a home from a parking lot near the Big Apple Diner in Hampton, NY per the PostStar.

The case summary, per Don Lehman’s reports.

The 2013 theft of the home occurred in a parking lot off Route 4, in Hampton, NY.

The home had been left there by the owner, “pending transportation elsewhere.”

“Police and the owner located it in south central Pennsylvania in the spring of 2014, and alleged that Brown carted it off and gave it to a relative.”

• Brown was picked up by Washington County sheriff’s officers from the jail in York County, Pennsylvania.
• Brown completed a sentence there for possessing the stolen manufactured home, for a 2015 case in Pennsylvania.
• Brown had worked for a company that transported manufactured homes. His former boss fired him for theft, had determined that a home he had brought to Pennsylvania was stolen.
• Police recovered the home, which Brown had allegedly gave to a relative.  The home was returned to the owner.
• Brown was represented by the Washington County Public Defender’s Office for his arraignment.
• The charge of grand larceny was punishable by up to 15 years in state prison.
• Brown had no prior criminal history, and made restitution, and was given a plea bargain.
• Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan imposed the sentence Friday, and directing that Brown make $3,882 restitution. If Brown violates probation, he then faces up to 15 years in state prison.
• Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said restitution was for loss of the value while it was unaccounted for.
• Brown had no criminal record before the home theft, and he paid the restitution at sentencing on Friday, Jordan stated. He also completed a jail term while awaiting disposition of the case.

As HUD Code manufactured home industry professionals know, in spite of the inaccurate moniker of ‘mobile home’ used too often by the media, this kind of theft is a rather rare occurrence in the industry.  The reasons are many, including the fact that specialized skills and equipment are needed to move a manufactured home. Moves of a true manufactured home are rare, not routine.

So to call a manufactured home ‘mobile’ is not only technically inaccurate, but it’s the least common state of the home; manufactured homes are immobile far more than mobile.

 

By contrast, the theft of motor vehicles in 2016 is larger than the total retail sales of the new manufactured home industry last year.  About $5.9 billion was lost to motor vehicle theft in 2016, per iii.org.  ## (News, analysis.)

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Submitted by Soheyla Kovach to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.com.