Michael Scott Jovan admits to receiving stolen property and is sentenced to one year probation in Palmer District Court.

Labor Day 2008: I had no money in my pocket at all. I had one person who wanted to buy a load of firewood as soon as I could get it to them. I went to my farm to make a load of wood and put a little money in my pocket. Up to that point I always felt safe on the property and I never hesitated leaving my chainsaws in my toolbox on the farm.

When I arrived that day I noticed immediately that my toolbox was left wide open. That seemed odd to me so I went right to where I left my chainsaws and I noticed they were missing. They cost over $800 each. I was effectively put out of business. Even though I had no money in my pocket someone still managed to rob me.

I did a little more investigating and I noticed that there were several sets of tire tracks leading up to where I stored my firewood to let it dry. There was a noticeable dent in the pile. Also, when I was leaving the property I noticed tire tracks right through our brand new lawn, something anyone familiar with the property would not have done. I had been robbed.

I never thought I would see those chainsaws again. I figured whoever had stolen them would sell them to someone out of state or sell them for parts. I never imagined that the person would keep the “hot“ saws anywhere that someone could see them. I even went as far as responding to ads on Craigslist where someone had advertised “2 Husqvarna Chainsaws” for sale. When I contacted the person they told me they’d already been sold.

Although I never thought I’d see the saws again I went to the Holland Police Station and reported to ex-Chief Gleason directly that my saws were missing. He handed me a standard police report form and told me that the chances I would ever see them again was slim to none. I took the paperwork with me and went home.

I went to work the next day to pick up the pieces and start over. I borrowed the $850 that it costs to buy a new chainsaw from a family member and went and bought a new saw. While I was at the chainsaw dealer I informed them about my missing saws and asked them to keep their eyes open for them. At the same time they gave me a copy of the warranty card for the missing saws that is filled out whenever you buy a new saw, which included the serial numbers which are stamped on every saw they sell.

When I arrived back on the hillside farm I was driving up our private way when I noticed some new unusual tire tracks. I followed them up to where my toolbox was located on the farm. When I first noticed my saws were missing the day before I just slammed the toolbox close in frustration, leaving the rest of my tools in the box. Once again I noticed the box was left wide open and I also noticed even more tire tracks leading up to my seasoned firewood pile. I had been robbed again.

This time the list of missing stuff included my climbing spikes, climbing harness & climbing rope. I bought those items when I was cleaning up trees in Florida after hurricanes Charlie & Francis in 2004 and I remembered that the total cost was $600. My firewood pile also had an even bigger dent in it and judging by the multiple sets of new tire tracks it appeared that someone had taken more than one truckload of firewood. Also missing was a special tool used for tightening tire chains on heavy machines valued at $250. I notified the Holland Police.

I was at my wits end. I had no idea what to do. I had no money in my pockets and someone had managed to rob me off close to the tune of $2500. I picked up all my remaining tools and brought them home with me. I started looking for more wood customers and tried not to think of my missing tools that I would never see again. It was very depressing and I didn’t feel safe on my own farm any longer.

Right around that time Frank Reilly was a casual farm hand. Up to that point he hadn’t really done any work that involved heavy machines or chainsaws. I had been teaching him how to run the different machines and I was letting him learn the proper way to use such a powerful chainsaw. That allowed him to become very familiar with the saws that were now missing. Well, one day he showed up on my farm telling me that he went over to his friends’ house that morning to work on his pickup truck, something he’s done many times before. He told me that while he was over there working on his truck he happened to look in the back of his friend’s Dad’s truck. He told me he noticed in the back of the truck a chainsaw that matched the exact make and model as the ones I was missing. He stated that this was a good friend of his, so much so that Frank regularly ate meals with the son and the father at their home. He didn’t want to go accusing them of being thieves if it wasn’t necessary.

I understood how Frank felt so I took my new chainsaw and showed him exactly where to look for the serial numbers and I wrote down the serial numbers of the two missing saws on a piece of paper. The next time I saw Frank he was standing on my property with one of my missing chainsaws in his hands. My jaw dropped, I could not believe it. As I approached Frank and asked him what happened he told me that when he went back and checked the numbers on the saw that it was an exact match. He said he took the saw out of the back of his friend’s father’s truck as he was afraid he would not have another chance.

Now that I had one of the missing saws back I took a close look at it and noticed that it had writing all over it in permanent black marker. Someone had written nine times on my saw just one word, the name “JOVAN” and did so in big black letters. Up until that point I had only heard that name used with one person, the former police chief of Holland. Frank informed me that he retrieved the saw out of the back of Jack Jovan’s brother’s truck, Mike Jovan, also known as Michael Scott Jovan. Michael S. Jovan lives on 41 Craig Road, Holland MA 01521.

Now at this point the only stolen property that had been retrieved was one missing saw. The rest of the missing stuff was just that, still missing. I told Frank to get a hold of JOVAN and tell him that if they returned the rest of the missing property that I would not press charges. Frank told me that they had agreed and that Mike Jovans son Corey would be bringing the rest of the stuff to my farm. I was happy and upset at the same time and I was afraid of what I would do given the chance to confront them. It was better for me not to be there. I left the farm while Corey brought my stuff back. When I got back to the farm I examined all the stuff that had been brought back, some stuff which was mine that I hadn’t even noticed was missing yet. Every single item that was brought back had big black letters written on them. The letters spelled “JOVAN”. Like he was afraid someone was going to steal it or that by writing his name on it so many times made it his. Well they didn’t bring everything back, they didn’t bring back the missing firewood and they didn’t bring back the tool to tighten the tire chains.

I felt violate again and called the Holland Police to the farm. I told them everything I knew and Frank told them everything that he knew. They said they’d look into it. They said they would question both Jovans and get back to me. I took all the missing property down to the police department so ex-Chief Gleason could take pictures of it for their files.

I figured it was over. I figured that all of my problems had been solved and that the criminal would be brought to justice. I thought my firewood was safe and I thought nothing more would be stolen from the farm. I was wrong.

About a week or two later I showed up for work one morning and noticed some new strange tire tracks leading up to my firewood pile which was nearly depleted. It had been hit again! I also noticed that all of the CD-players had been taken out of the vehicles that were on my property. I again reported it to the Holland Police and they told me that Mike Jovan was already being charged. I filed a “No Trespassing Notice” on Mike Jovan and informed ex-Chief Gleason that I would be sleeping on my property and that I was going to attempt to park a piece of heavy machinery on the culprits vehicle if he returned.

I set up a trap. I parked my machines in such a manner that anyone could drive right in and back up to my seasoned wood pile. My plan was that as soon as someone showed up in the middle of the night and started loading wood into their truck that I was going to start my machine and park it right on their truck. Now the reader may or may not be familiar with a log skidder but believe me, my log skidder would have absolutely no problem running over any car or truck. I slept on that machine for three different nights, starting it every hour so that when it was time to put my plan into action the machine would be ready to go. No one ever showed up, lucky for them.

I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep on my machine every night. I went to Cabella’s in Connecticut and purchased 2 infrared game cameras. They were the kind that is used for spotting game in the forest but they are also used for surveillance. They did cost over $250 each but the expense was nothing if it meant I got to sleep in my own bed at night. I set them up in two different spots on the property and made sure they were properly calibrated. I checked them every few days to see who was on the property and to clear the memory cards as they could only hold so many pictures.

One day I showed up on the farm to check my cameras. I noticed that there were some strange tire tracks aiming right at where I had one of the cameras. That particular camera was pointed right at the toolbox that so many tools went missing from. The camera was gone. I immediately went and checked the other camera and to my disappointment the camera was already full of pictures and did not catch the thief.

I knew now that the thief knows that I had surveillance cameras installed. I asked Frank for the Jovans telephone number. I called up and left a message saying that it was nice of them to steal my surveillance camera but that they should have taken them both and that I had a picture of them on my property and I was turning it over to the police, even though I did not, I was bluffing. After that I never noticed anything missing ever again.

I went to the Holland Police very upset. I could not believe that after everything that had happened that I was still being robbed. I demanded an explanation for the fact that Mike Jovan had not been arrested. I learned that he hadn’t even been questioned. I told the ex-Chief Gleason that I wanted to go to the Jovans house and demand that they stop stealing from me. He told me that that wasn’t the best approach and to just fill out another police report. That’s what I did.

A few months later I got notification that Mike Jovan was being charged with a handful of charges and that his first court day was coming up. Up to that point I had never met or even seen Mike Jovan in my entire life. All I ever heard was he was a cocky little Armenian guy who had bragged about carrying a gun. Well I went to that first court day. Not sure if I was going to be able to make any difference I went and met with the Victim Advocate in the District Attorneys office and turned over all the receipts and relevant paperwork that I had. After I finished I went upstairs to the courtroom. When I went in I took a seat in the courtroom and took a look around trying to see if I could guess which one was Mike Jovan. It took a little while before his name was called but when they finally said his name the guy that was sitting right next to me stood up. Unbelievable I know. They told him that it was going to be a little while and he sat right back down next to me. He had no idea who he was sitting next to.

Now here I was sitting right next to the guy who had caused me so much grief over the last few months. In my mind I figured if I stretched my arms out like I was just stretching I could put him in a headlock and get at least five or six well placed punches in before anyone could ever stop me. I didn’t. I did not want to catch my own case when I was just showing up as a witness. He isn’t worth it

I went home that day just glad to see him start the long court process ahead. I’ve gone through it before and I know sometimes just going through that process is punishment in its on right. Well over the next few months I heard different accounts of what Mike Jovan was trying to spin. At first I heard that he was telling people that Frank had stolen the property and was just trying to blame him. Another person told me they asked Mike what happened and he said that he had found the stuff scattered all over the causeway from one end to the other. One time I got a frantic phone call from Frank that Mike Jovan was over at his grandparents’ house yelling and screaming at his friends. Another time I got a phone call from Frank saying that someone had slashed the convertible top of one of the cars parked at his grandparent’s house and another vehicle had had the tires slashed. Now maybe it’s just a coincidence but the Jovans only live about four houses down the street.

Well, today January 11, 2010, I was subpoenaed to testify at Mike Jovan’s jury trial. I showed up and immediately went to the DA’s office. After a few hours, I met with the District Attorney and he told me that due to the Holland Police work, or lack thereof, that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove anything other than that Mike Jovan had received stolen property. He told me that if it came down to it that he wouldn’t be able to prove without a reasonable doubt to a jury that it was Mike Jovan that actually stole my property. He told me that he was going to agree to a plea bargain with Mike Jovan for receiving stolen property that would not leave a guilty finding on his record as long as he completed a year of probation. I asked him that if he couldn’t prove that Mike Jovan was the one that actually stole the property that maybe he could charge Mike’s son also with receiving stolen property as he was the one who showed up with it on the farm, maybe that would get him to confess his crimes. He said it was too late for that. He asked me what kind of restitution I felt was in order. I told him that I never received the two cords of wood back which sold for $300 per cord at the time it was stolen. I mentioned also the camera which went for $250 as well as the tool for tightening chains which is valued at $250. Another point I mentioned was that even though I had gotten both of my chainsaws back that because Mike Jovan was not trained on how to properly run the expensive professional chainsaw that he had burnt out the piston and that the saw was ruined. The replacement cost for the ruined saw was $850.

Well, Mike Jovan had his day in court. We were not able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the one that actually took my property. I was told it was because I didn’t see him do it and I did not have any pictures of him doing it and he never confessed to it. He did admit to the fact that he had received stolen property and he is now on probation and is not allowed to get in trouble for a year. I have to take another day off for court on February 4th, the third day in this case to testify and present my receipts at a restitution hearing so a judge can determine how much Mike Jovan owes me.

Do I think he will be able to pay? Guessing by his delinquent tax status on his house and the fact that he is unable to work I’m not going to hold my breath. I told the DA today that I would be happy to just get my game camera back as well as the expensive tool for tightening my tire chains.

Well that’s the story. That’s the most I’ve typed since I was in college and I’m thankful that I actually learned how to type or this would have taken even more time out of my life then it already has. Am I happy with the outcome? Not really. I’ve seen innocent people arrested in this town on nothing more than orders from the selectmen. Do I think that JOVAN learned his lesson and that he is done stealing from the people in this town? I think not; maybe he would be better suited as one of the selectman. At least then he would get a pension and insurance for stealing from the people in this town. I hope anyone that knows him or sees him around their property, or has had anything stolen from them will learn from this and not trust him as far as they can throw him. The one thing I would like to say to Mike Jovan is “just stop it.......we know it is you and you will not get away with it forever.”

Thanks for giving me a place for my story to be heard Peter Frei. If it wasn’t for you, it would be hard to tell my story and warn the people of Holland of the wolves amongst us.

January 11, 2010, Mike LaMountain