Police: Man Targeted Lancaster County Amish In $82,000 Tool Theft Spree

Pennsylvania State Police are searching for a man they say stole more than $82,000 worth of power tools from construction sites across Lancaster County — and many of the victims were Amish. Here’s more from CBS21:

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Police are looking for a man who reportedly stole over $80K in tools from various construction sites between February and July in Lancaster County.

Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) said they investigated 12 incidents in which power tools were stolen from construction sites, predominantly from the Amish community.

Officials said the thefts were from contractor trailers left on site or from within buildings under construction. The cost of the supplies stolen totals $82,664.

A man named Jose Misael Sola Navarro, age 35, has been charged with 40 counts of theft, burglary and criminal trespass, according to court records. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

ABC27 notes that similar thefts have been reported elsewhere in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The reporting there does not say where those thefts happened, or whether those victims were also Amish.

Construction is a major industry among the Amish in general, and particularly in Lancaster County, where Amish contractors do extensive residential and commercial work. They would likewise own a wide array of tools, as well as in many cases, work trucks.

They frequently work well beyond their home areas – Lancaster County builders do a lot of work in the greater Philadelphia area, and throughout the region in general. But they also do a lot of work within the county, and that sounds like where they were hit in this case.

Not So Easy Targets

This appears to be another case of someone viewing the Amish as “easy pickings”, perhaps in the misguided belief that they don’t report crimes. While in past cases, Amish homes have often been targeted, in this case the suspect allegedly went after construction sites. Perhaps that was due to a belief they’d be more accessible.

Amish in Pennsylvania have been the target of property crime before. In 2023, State Police arrested five teenagers in connection with 21 break-ins that took more than $31,000 from members of the Mercer County Amish community. In Lancaster County, someone stole five Labradoodle puppies from an Amish farm in April 2025.

Amish business owners have taken action to prevent crime, even using technology you might not expect to see them use. Back in 2014, a Lancaster Amish shed builder used a hidden infrared camera to capture an image of a thief who had been repeatedly stealing from the same shops.

Despite numerous examples of people trying to steal from the Amish and getting caught, they keep doing it. Anyone with information on Sola Navarro’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Pennsylvania State Police Lancaster station at 717-299-7650.