AHOSKIE – The recovery process of a stolen Ahoskie police car turned into a smelly situation here Thursday afternoon.

The cruiser, a Ford Taraus, was found at the bottom of the Ahoskie wastewater lagoon. The car was found after wastewater treatment plant Manager, Stewart White, noticed what appeared to be an oily film coming up in part of the lagoon.

&uot;He was seeing bubbles every once in a while,&uot; said Troy Fitzhugh, Ahoskie Police Chief. &uot;From what I understand, that’s normal on occasion, but these bubbles were more often than normal and the film that [White] was seeing was actually the gas coming up.&uot;

White contacted Lt. Scott Outlaw of the Ahoskie Police Department and within minutes, they determined the possibility of a vehicle being at the bottom.

&uot;The water is only about five feet deep where the car was located,&uot; Fitzhugh said. &uot;Once the emergency management team got on the scene, they put a boat out there and used a rod to feel along the bottom.

&uot;They said they could actually feel the light bar and the antenna, confirming there was a vehicle down there,&uot; the chief continued.

Allen Liverman of Liverman’s Automotive was called in to pull the car out, finding the stolen patrol car with keys still in the ignition.

The patrol car was stolen on the night of Dec. 3 from the wastewater plant along with a F150 pick up truck, also owned by the town of Ahoskie.

The truck was recovered later in the night on Dec. 3, but the last known whereabouts of the cruiser was a possible sighting on US 13 north, going toward Winton sometime around nine o’clock that same evening.

In the meantime, the Hertford County Sheriff’s Office had been looking for a subject by the name of Harry Davis White Jr., 35, after he eluded police on assault charges in Bertie County.

On the night the two vehicles were taken, Davis was tracked from the truck and arrested. He was later charged with two counts of felony larceny of a motor vehicle and one count of felony possession of a motor vehicle.

Fitzhugh said Friday the investigation team, headed by Outlaw, was still considering further charges being added to Harry White’s list of alleged crimes; however, those charges, if any, are pending.

Fitzhugh said he feels there still may be a second person involved, but would not elaborate further.