PORTLAND – A Portland man with a penchant for stealing vehicles off car lots is back behind bars.

At about 11:47 p.m. Monday, South Portland Patrol Officer Chris Gosling checked the registration plates of a Honda Accord driving in front of him on Main Street, and found they actually belonged on a Ford F-150 truck. According to a police department press release, Gosling stopped the vehicle, which then took off as he approached the driver’s side door. The Honda ran a red light at Cash Corner and sped up Main Street toward Scarborough.

Gosling gave chase, but quickly cut it off as the Honda sped along the Thornton Heights section of Route 1. However, other units were notified and, a short time later, Sgt. Kevin Gerrish came across the same vehicle rolling east on Broadway. Gerrish attempted to stop the car on the Maine Turnpike spur, but once again it took off at a high rate of speed.

By this time, officers believed the driver to be Timothy Berry, 19, of Portland, based on a physical description and previous experience.

At 12:35 a.m. Tuesday, Portland police responding to an alarm at a nearby car business spotted Berry walking along Brighton Avenue. Gosling went to the scene and identified Berry as the person he had seen driving the Honda, which was found in the Barron Center parking lot, a short distance away. It was later determined that the Honda had been stolen from the lot at Brunswick Ford.

Berry was arrested and booked at Cumberland County Jail on charges of driving without a license, illegal attachment of license plates, eluding a police officer, and violating conditions of release. He remained in custody at the jail as of Tuesday morning. Additional charges, South Portland police say, “are likely.”

At the time of the arrest, Berry was out on bail for burglary and theft charges, having been arrested in South Portland in July for driving a vehicle that was stolen from Yankee Ford.

Timothy Berry