POST FALLS — Two workers of an asphalt firm were arrested in Post Falls on Tuesday after allegedly stealing more than $4,000 worth of tools and equipment from a business.

Gary Hilliard, 44, Belton, Mo., and Christina Manley, 35, Belton, were booked into the Kootenai County Jail by Post Falls Police on felony grand theft charges. Manley was also charged with possession of methamphetamine and marijuana.

The tools were allegedly stolen from Volvo Rents, 573 N. Idahline Road, on Post Falls' west side not far from the Howard Johnson/Fairbridge Inn where the workers and co-workers were staying.

"They seemed to have scattered after the arrests were made," Post Falls Police Capt. Greg McLean said.

According to police, the manager of a nearby apartment complex made contact with the suspects around 4 a.m. on Tuesday. 

"She originally thought that it was a fire truck, but it was an asphalt truck so she asked them what they were doing," McLean said. "They told her that they were moving tools from one rig to another, finished loading up their company dump truck and drove off. She didn't think much of it at the time with it being a rental business."

Police were contacted by the Volvo Rents business about the alleged theft later in the morning when employees showed up to work and noticed the backyard fence to the business had been cut and tools were stolen from company vehicles.

While an officer was on scene taking the report, the manager told police about her earlier encounter with the suspects. The tools were located in the suspects' hotel room, McLean said.

McLean said Manley told police that she and Hilliard found the tools outside the fence by a dumpster while on a walk and denied cutting the fence and going onto the Volvo property. She claims the tools had been stashed there by someone else.

McLean said Idaho State Police has been in recent contact with Asphalt and Paving, the firm the suspects work for, for allegedly using drivers in commercial rigs who don't have a commercial driver's license. He said he heard the firm is working on a project in the Pullman area.