By Evan Johnson
KILLINGTON— A homeless man was arrested on Monday for stealing a hiker’s backpack on the Long Trail.
The pack was recovered and returned to its owner within hours, noted a few hikers who witnessed the incident.
According to a press release from the Killington Police Department, police responded to a report of a theft of a hiking pack from the Cooper Lodge in Killington on Monday, Aug. 7.
Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery said a female hiker “set her pack down to take a better look at the view. When she turned around she saw him take off with her pack.”
Witnesses hiking on the Long Trail were able to provide police with a description and direction of travel of the suspect, who was intercepted by police at the Bucklin trailhead on Wheelerville Road in Mendon, a distance of roughly four miles from the shelter.
Bryan Hamilton, age 23, was taken into custody and lodged at the Marble Valley Correctional Center for lack of bail. He was scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 8 to answer to the charge of grand larceny, a felony charge.
The pack and its contents were returned to its owner.
Montgomery said the incident was rare: “I can’t remember someone running off with a pack,” he said.
