A homeless man who owned a camper got a friend to go with him to pick up his camper, but his camper was gone so they picked up another one that was nearby. After GCSD located the stolen camper, the suspect was arrested.

Michael Paul Archer, 42, Linton, was arrested by Detective Shawn Cullison of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department last Thursday, January 13, on a warrant that was issued for Archer’s arrest following an investigation into a stolen camper.

On New Year’s Eve morning, December 31, a man who lives on N Street NW in Linton reported a camper had been stolen from his property about four days earlier. When Det. Cullison arrived, the man showed him where the camper had been parked behind his house. Det. Cullison could see the marks in the grass where it had been parked and marks in the yard where a vehicle had driven to pick up the camper then tow it out to the road. He also saw another muddy spot with no grass behind the house. The man explained that was where another camper had been parked but he said he had sold that camper earlier.

According to Det. Cullison’s report, the man said he’d just moved in around the first of December and had bought the camper that was missing then sold it to another man who had already paid him $800 for it. Around December 27, when he noticed the camper was gone, he assumed the buyer had picked up the camper. That was not the case and when the buyer came to pick up the camper on December 31, that is when he realized the camper had been stolen. He also said the camper had the words “The Griswold’s” written on the front.

When Det. Cullison talked to a neighbor across the street, the neighbor said he saw a red Chevrolet truck pull the camper out of the yard around Christmas weekend during the day. He described the truck and the direction it headed when it left.

On January 4, Det. Cullison got a tip that the stolen camper might be located at a residence in Midland so Deputy James Carpenter drove to Midland looking for the camper. After locating what he thought was the stolen camper, Det. Cullison and Deputies Carpenter and Michael Coy went to the residence where they determined it was the stolen camper by a check on the license plate info although the VIN number had been removed from the camper.

While there, they talked to a man who resided at the location and to Michael Archer who was also there.

The man who resided there explained that Archer was homeless and so he had asked Archer about a camper he knew Archer owned. He said Archer said his camper was still at the house where his mother and step-father used to live. Archer explained that his mother used to live at the house – that was now occupied by the man who reported the camper as stolen.

Archer explained that his mother had bought the camper for him and the title was in his mother’s name. But his mother died in October of 2020 and then his step-father died about a month later. Archer said he didn’t get anything when they died but he thought the title for his camper had been put in his name, but he didn’t have it. He had not been to his mother’s house for about a year and a half. Archer knew someone else now lived in the house.

Archer said he and the resident went to the house, put lights on the camper and towed it back to the resident’s property in Midland, but they got the wrong camper.

The resident confirmed Archer said his camper was still at the old house and that Archer said he didn’t have the title for his camper, but they went there, put lights on it and towed it back. The resident said he didn’t know the camper they towed was not Archer’s camper, until the deputies showed up.

When quizzed about the descriptions and differences between the two campers, Archer said they were the same color and about the same size although the one they towed was a little bigger and he thought his mother had fixed the inside of it up a little.

Det. Cullison then went back to the house where the campers had been parked to talk to the man again and ask him about the other camper that had been on the property. The man explained that his landlord had sold the other camper and it had been scrapped. The man said the other camper was a little smaller and it was junk.

After the information from the investigation was submitted to the prosecutor’s office, a criminal case was filed against Archer and a warrant was issued for his arrest last Thursday. Archer was taken into custody that same day and booked into the Greene County Jail at 1:22 p.m. His bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He posted $400 and was released later the same day.

Now Archer is facing a charge of theft where the value of the property is between $750 and $50,000, a Level 6 felony. He’s scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for his initial hearing on January 24.