AMBOY – Can’t you just hear those road signs a-thwunking?

According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Department, around 1 a.m. Sunday, Darrell R. Farringer, 31, stole a Case IH 7210 tractor from Vaessen Implement Repair, 542 U.S. Route 52, threw it in reverse and plowed down the road for 5.5 miles – leaving a trail of twisted and felled metal signs in his wake.

The ride ended when he hit a garage at 126 S. Davis Ave., Sheriff John Simonton said.

“We found it there,” Simonton said. “That is when the homeowner called and said ‘I have a tractor in my garage.’ [He] was out with our suspect that night.”

Farringer was arrested at his house about 8:30 a.m. Simonton said. “The gentleman confessed to driving the tractor.”

The keys to the tractor were inside the vehicle, which, because of its size, sustained only minor damage, he said.

Farringer is charged with three felonies – aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle, punishable by 4 to 15 years in prison; criminal damage to government-supported property, which carries 2 to 5 years; two counts of criminal damage to property, which carries 1 to 3 years; and misdemeanor reckless driving.

He was in Lee County Jail Monday night on $10,000 bond.

Farringer also is wanted in Vermilion County for failure to appear on a DUI charge levied in November, Simonton said.