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Avon Lake police said Joseph Jankulovich stole $500,000 worth of parts from a Lorain County Ford assembly plant.

(File photo)

AVON LAKE, Ohio -- An employee of an Avon Lake Ford assembly plant is accused of stealing $500,000 in auto parts and selling them on eBay.

Joseph Jankulovich, 48, of Sheffield, stole enough parts to temporarily halt production at the plant, police said Wednesday. Jankulovich was indicted Friday on felony theft and receiving stolen property charges.

An investigation began when plant managers were forced to stop production in September of 2013 because of a lack of tire sensors, Avon Lake Police Det. Tim Schleicher said. When plant managers looked into the problem, they discovered that about 8,000 sensors were missing, he said.

The plant is located in three communities: Sheffield Lake, Sheffield and Avon Lake. Plant officials discovered that the missing parts were stored in a bin in the Avon Lake section of the facility and contacted Avon Lake police.

Investigators eventually found an eBay account linked to Jankulovich advertising sensors similar to the ones missing from the plant, investigators said.

"What I noticed was the sale of the tire sensors started in November 2012," Schleicher said. "He had almost a year under his belt before we started (our investigation)."

Plant officials and Avon Lake detectives bought sensors from the eBay account over a three-month period and then brought Jankulovich in for questioning in February 2014, police said. He denied stealing the parts, Schleicher said, but the sales stopped after police questioned him.

The parts have serial numbers on them that tell Ford managers what plant they came from. Police found that the tire sensors they bought on eBay were registered to the Lorain County assembly plant. Buyers were asked to send payments to a PayPal account linked to Jankulovich's bank account, he said.

Jankulovich worked for the plant for more than 10 years, Schleicher said, and mostly worked the night shift with minimal supervision.

"He worked in machine maintenance," Schleicher said. "He wasn't a line worker, he had some access (to storage bins)."

Jankulovich turned himself in Monday and is free on a personal bond. The Ford plant fired him following investigation, Schleicher said. A plant representative did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Jankulovich's next court appearance hasn't been scheduled.