Tommy Kelly spends most of his days painting military housing at Redstone Arsenal. But he took the day off Sunday to work in his backyard. Some time between 5 and 5:30 p.m., while Kelly was on his tractor, a man walked onto his property and stole his truck from his driveway.

“It was broad daylight. He found the spare key in the console and stole it,” Kelly said, still fuming from the incident. “If I had a pistol, I’d a shot him on the spot and I wouldn’t blink an eye.”

From a speed standpoint, Kelly’s response to the theft is a textbook case of how to get your stolen truck back.

Kelly telephoned the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office and sent them a photograph of the missing 2003 Ford F150 with a lift kit that lifts it higher off the ground. He also offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thief, or thieves, responsible and for the return of his truck.

“Money will make a mother turn a child in,” he said.

Kelly’s response worked, as Wesley David Aldridge was arrested and charged with first-degree theft for Kelly’s truck. He is in the Morgan County Jail also charged with possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia. Other charges are also pending, a Morgan County official said.

Kelly said he didn’t offer the reward because he loves his truck.

“It wouldn’t matter if I hated the truck, I did it because it’s mine,” Kelly said.

His insurance agent urged him to find a replacement truck, but Kelly insisted on getting his own truck returned.

“I’m fully covered, but I am paid to be fully covered,” he said, noting the insurance company would replace the truck and the $600 or $700 worth of tools in it. “But my insurance rate would rocket up, so I get to pay yet again.”

Within six hours of reporting the theft and posting the reward, the truck was found in a farm field in Morgan County, Kelly said.

“It’s a big toy to a drug addict or a kid,” he said.

After the truck was taken, it was driven through a field, getting fully lathered in mud. The vehicle was abandoned after it got stuck in the mud. Kelly believes there was more than one culprit because they left their wet and muddy clothes in the truck’s passenger seat.

Adding to Kelly’s misery, the Sheriff’s Office called a wrecker service to pull the truck from the field. Kelly had to pay the cost and he didn’t even call for the wrecker, he said.

“I’ve been charged out the rear — $275 — to get it out,” Kelly said. He doubts the accused will ever repay him and he thinks his record would prevent him from finding gainful employment.

“His job is stealing and he ain’t good at that,” Kelly said.

Kelly figures it will be a year before Aldridge serves any time for stealing his truck because Morgan County gets him first.

Meanwhile, the theft has changed Kelly’s outlook on life, at least for now.

“I bought a pistol and a five-year permit,” he said. “They messed with the wrong man, ’cause I didn’t sit around and wait. Older people sometime won’t report thefts because they feel like they did something wrong when they didn’t. I was on my tractor, working in my yard on my day off, minding my own damn business, not bothering anyone. I’ve lived here since 1995 and I never locked the doors and never had anything stolen. Now, I am watching out for me.”