NORWICH – Charles Brasington, a 37-year-old Bainbridge resident, was arraigned on the class E felony of bail jumping in the second degree and remanded back to the county jail after he allegedly posted an $80,000 bail and fled to Montana where he was arrested last fall.

After a four-month-long investigation in 2013, New York State Police troopers allege Brasington rented nearly $500,000 worth of equipment from Beck Equipment Inc. and never returned the equipment.

According to a lawsuit filed by Beck Equipment Inc., it is alleged Brasington rented six pieces of equipment, which consisted of two excavators, a dozer, a skid steer and a loader backhoe, under the guise of using for his business, Irving Dutch Tree Co. Instead of using it for his business, read the lawsuit, Brasington sold the equipment to a local auction company for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When Beck Equipment Inc. discovered Brasington no longer had the equipment in his possession, read the lawsuit, the company contacted the New York State Police.

Brasington was charged with four counts of the class D felony of grand larceny in the third degree, three counts of the class C felony of grand larceny in the second degree and scheming to defraud in the first degree.