Man accused of stealing truck from dialysis center

Lincoln County law officers put a man in custody recently after he allegedly stole a man’s truck that was parked outside a dialysis center last month in the Flathead Valley.

Thomas Carl Scull, 36, was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, obstructing a police officer and criminal trespass to a motor vehicle.

Scull pleaded not guilty to the offenses during a Jan. 30 court hearing in front of District Judge Matt Cuffe. The charges were recently dismissed by County Attorney Marcia Boris. Because they were dismissed without prejudice, the county may refile two of the charges at a later date.

Boris also said in an email that the motor vehicle theft charge will be up to Flathead County officials because the truck was stolen there.

Scull is currently locked up in the Missoula County Detention Center on felony charges related to a case from May 2022. When Lincoln County officers arrested Scull they learned Scull had an active felony warrant out of Missoula County for failing to appear on a separate case.

According to a story on newstalkkgvo.com, Scull was arrested in Missoula County in May 31, 2022, after city police officers were called to a disturbance involving two men and a woman.

Scull was accused of head butting a city officer and an officer at the county jail.

The accusation against Scull for allegedly stealing a truck in Flathead County wasn't the first time for him.

According to Flathead County court records, Scull received a 6-month suspended sentence on Dec. 5, 2022, after pleading guilty to one amended count of misdemeanor theft. Scull received credit for serving 100 days in the county jail.

Scull was originally charged with felony theft for stealing a different man’s truck that was parked outside a dialysis clinic on the afternoon of Aug. 6, 2022, in Kalispell. Scull was arrested four hours later on Interstate 90 in Mineral County after county officers saw Scull driving erratically.

In the Lincoln County case, Libby Police Sgt. Ronald Buckner reported that he received a call about a man going through a Rosauers employee’s vehicle in the early evening hours of Jan. 16. County Sheriff's officers John Davis and Luke Hauke made the initial contact with the man, later identified as Scull, while he sat in a different truck in the store parking lot.

Buckner first spoke with a Rosauers employee who reported a man had entered a co-worker's unlocked vehicle without permission and was going through items in it.

When Buckner returned to the truck where Scull was sitting, Sgt. John Davis told the fellow officer the man refused to identify himself. The man was then arrested and officers found a citation on him that was used to confirm his identity. The citation was from Kalispell Police Department.

When Buckner gave vehicle information to dispatch, he learned the truck didn’t belong to Scull and was registered to a Kalispell man. Sgt. Davis spoke to the alleged victim and learned his truck was stolen from a dialysis center on U.S. 93 earlier that evening.

The man said he didn’t know who Scull was and didn’t have permission to take his truck. Lincoln County Dispatch confirmed with Flathead County that the truck had been reported stolen.