LEOMINSTER — On Sunday, December 22, 2024, at approximately 10:30 a.m., Officer Tanner Jakola of the Leominster Police Department was dispatched to the Central Street Car Wash located at 1050 Central Street, following a report of malicious damage.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Jakola and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
Upon arrival, Officer Jakola spoke with the reporting party who said that he checked the property that day and noticed that a brick structure used to store trash cans had been destroyed.
“The structure was next to vacuum cleaner #9 in the back of the property,” Officer Jakola said.
The reporting party reviewed the car wash’s security footage and observed that on December 21, 2024, at approximately 4:11 p.m., a tow truck entered the car wash and proceeded to the area behind the vacuums.
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“The tow truck proceeds to accelerate and suddenly turn left, causing the back of the truck to fish tail and hit the brick structure, effectively destroying the structure,” Officer Jakola recounted. “The maneuver the tow truck pulled is commonly referred to as a ‘Donut.’ The operator of the vehicle sits in the tow truck for about a minute and then drives away. The operator never got out of the vehicle. From the video, it looks like the driver is the sole occupant.”
Officer Jakola stated that the tow truck had “Maki Rental Station #261” displayed on the passenger door, along with a logo resembling that of Maki Rental Station, which is located at 160 Massachusetts Ave in Lunenburg.
“From video and still images, I could tentatively make out a US DOT number of 368582,” Officer Jakola added. “I could not form a description of the operator due to the quality of the camera.”
The reporting party stated that he attempted to call Maki Rental Station that morning but was sent to voicemail.
“I looked up Maki Rental Centers and found Makicorp.com,” Officer Jakola said. “I called the phone number to the Lunenburg store and left a message.”
Two days later, on Dec. 23, 2024, Officer Jakola spoke with Jeff from Maki Rental Centers on a recorded line.
“Jeff stated the vehicle was stolen from the lot around 2:50 p.m. on Saturday afternoon,” Officer Jakola said. “I explained to Jeff I was working on a leaving the scene of an accident and Jeff stated the tow truck was doing donuts in Maki Rental Centers parking lot and hit a jersey barrier. This was the same manner the tow truck was driven at Central Street Car Wash, which leads me to believe the person who stole the tow truck was the same person who left the scene of this accident. According to Jeff, the Lunenburg Police Department had identified the suspect.”
Officer Jakola called the Lunenburg Police Department and spoke with an officer who said that Mark Pearl had been pulled over for operating the tow truck and was going to be summoned to court.
Officer Jakola checked the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) database, and found out that Pearl’s license was suspended.
According to police, Mark A. Pearl, 34, is a resident of 128 Rollstone Street, Fitchburg, MA.
“I was able to view Lunenburg P[olice] D[epartment]’s report,” Officer Jakola said. “In summary, on December 22, around 12:09 a.m., the tow truck was pulled over in the Maki Rental Centers parking lot. The operator was identified as Mark Pearl. In the report, Officer [Joel] Ortega indicated he would be following up with Maki Building Centers on December 23 to see if Mark had permission to operate the vehicle.”
Officer Jakola stated that on January 4, 2025, the initial reporting party from Central Street Car Wash visited the Leominster Police Department and provided a contractor’s invoice from Richards Masonry, estimating the cost of materials and labor to repair the damaged brick structure at $3,200.
“On January 5, 2025 around 9:30 a.m., Mark Pearl was at the Leominster Police Station in our custody in regards to a separate matter,” Officer Jakola said. “While my body camera was activated, I asked Mark if he would like to speak to me about an incident that happened about two weeks ago. Mark asked what it was in regards to. I advised him it had to do with being pulled over in a tow truck in Lunenburg. Mark stated he did not know what I was talking about and did not want to speak with me.”
On January 5, Officer Jakola had a recorded conversation with Officer Ortega, who stated that he had retrieved video footage and still images from Maki Building Centers’ surveillance cameras.
“The video and pictures were sent to me,” Officer Jakola said. “The pictures from Maki Building Centers showed a light skinned male party with a thin build and facial hair. This male party shares the same build, complexion, and facial hair as Mark Pearl.”
Officer Jakola added, “Due to Mark driving the Maki tow truck and being pulled over by the Lunenburg police approximately eight hours after this incident, I have probable cause to believe Mark was driving the Maki tow truck (MA Com[mercial plates] W15 579) on Dec. 21, 2024, around 4:11 p.m., performed a donut in a parking lot of an open business (Negligent Operation), hit and destroyed a brick structure, and left the scene without notifying police or exchanging information with the business owner (Leave Scene of Property Damage). According to CJIS, Mark’s license status is suspended (Operate After Suspension). Due to Mark’s apparent lack of remorse for destroying the brick structure (did not get out of the vehicle, left the scene, operated the vehicle in the same negligent manner at Maki Rental Center) it is believed he undertook this destruction of property totally on purpose (Defacing or Damaging Property). According to Mark’s BOP [Board of Probation record], he has an extensive history of trespassing and vandalism.”
Pearl was charged with:
- Leaving Scene of Property Damage
- Negligent Operation of Motor Vehicle
- Operating Motor Vehicle with License Suspended
- Vandalize Property
“I wrote Mark Massachusetts Uniform Citation 105400AD and placed it in his property at the station,” Officer Jakola explained. “I asked Mark his mailing address since he is listed out of Rollstone Street in Fitchburg in our system. Mark stated he does not live in Fitchburg and his mailing address is his grandmother’s P.O. Box, but did not tell me what it was, stating we should already have it. I advised Mark he would be receiving mail in regards to a court date and if he did not respond, a warrant would be put out for him. Mark said that was fine. I do not believe that Mark’s Rollstone Street address is valid.”
Pearl’s arraignment was scheduled to take place in Leominster District Court on Jan. 24, 2025.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from December, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
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