Alleged Dump Truck Thief Charged In Saint Louis

ST. LOUIS, MO — Joseph Macdonald, a 39-year-old St. Louis man, has been charged with assault, felony tampering with a motor vehicle and felony resisting arrest after police say he stole a dump truck from a Washington County construction site Wednesday morning.

The Post-Dispatch reports the truck was being used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Workers reported the truck and other equipment missing shortly before 6 a.m., and police used GPS to track the vehicle across two states and five counties.

Police say Macdonald also stole a trailer and various construction tools from the site, using the dump truck to ram his way through a security gate.

Macdonald allegedly led police on a chase that wound through Illinois and downtown St. Louis before finally ending in a foot chase in the city's Soulard neighborhood.

Fox 2 St. Louis reports the man tried to carjack several motorists on Interstate 55 before hitching a ride on a utility truck. He jumped off the truck and tried to steal a parked SUV before police finally apprehended him.

Macdonald's bail has been set at $50,000 cash. Charging documents indicate he is on parole for previous drug and weapons-related offenses, and this isn't the first time he's been charged with motor vehicle theft. Police say at times he has also gone by the alias "Hoax."

Mug shot via St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department