A GPS device led a construction worker to track down a stolen trailer filled with equipment, which led Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies to arrest two men in connection with the theft.

Anthony Sears, 53, of Forestdale and Fred Bufford, 52, of Birmingham were each arrested and charged with first-degree receiving stolen property, after deputies tracked down the trailer behind a house in the 200 block of Allegheny Drive. That’s directly behind the Taco Bell restaurant on U.S. 78.

The trailer was reported missing by an employee of a firm doing construction on Lakeshore Parkway near Homewood and Hoover. After calling 911, the employee used a tracking device to find the trailer, which had a GPS device of its own attached. He found the trailer, which contained about $50,000 worth of concrete finishing tools and equipment, behind the house on Allegheny.

The employee then called the sheriff’s office. Deputies then came to the scene, and tried to get a man later identified as Sears to come out of hiding inside the house. He did, saying that the house was his but the trailer was not. Sears added that another man had dropped the trailer off behind the house, and he had called that man to have him pick up the trailer after Sears saw law enforcement in the area. Deputies then parked their cruisers away from Sears’ house and waited for the man to arrive.

The man, later identified as Bufford, soon showed up and was arrested. Bufford first said he didn’t know anyone in the neighborhood and was just passing through, then changed and said he bought the trailer and equipment at a pawn shop.

Both men were given $10,000 bond, which Sears posted and was released from jail. Bufford remains in custody.