Van used by Heart of Pine Plains Community Center stolen, burned

PINE PLAINS — An eight-passenger Pontiac Montana van owned by Jennifer and Ron Mosher was stolen two weeks ago and abandoned after crashing on Chase Road. The vehicle was severely burned.

Jennifer Mosher, who lives near the Stissing Mountain Middle/High School, said she and her husband were watching television around 10 p.m. when the car was stolen from their driveway. The keys were left in the car, as the Moshers were planning to return to the Heart of Pine Plains Community Center (HOPP) at the new library later that evening. Mosher is the co-chair at HOPP.

“We heard the fire whistle go off, and then it went off again,� Mosher said during a phone interview. “I remember hoping none of our neighbors were in trouble. Then there was a sheriff’s deputy at our door half an hour later, asking us who had been driving our van. I looked in the driveway and the car was missing.�

A representative from the Pine Plains Police Department said the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office was handling the case. Detective Robert Harpp, who is assigned to the case, was unable to be reached in time to comment for this article.

Mosher said she had been using the van for the last six months at the community center, transporting seniors to and from the center and also bringing them to appointments. She said she was planning to donate the vehicle to the community center this spring.

“To think that right here in little rural Pine Plains somebody came right into our yard like that,� Mosher said. “I’m still shocked more than a week later.�

The incident was a shame, not only for the Moshers but for the community center as well, she added, which for the time being is without a vehicle to meet transportation needs. There has been some suggestion that a fundraiser for HOPP could raise money toward a vehicle; it’s an idea Mosher is considering.

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