A Marathon couple was arrested Friday for stealing a generator on loan to them from St. Columba Episcopal Church after Hurricane Irma.
Lawrence Marvin Shoquist, 52, and Renee Lelaini Shoquist, 51, were both charged with grand theft, fraud and dealing in stolen property.
A representative of the church told Det. Amanda Faith Coleman the church lent a total of 12 generators, each worth $500, in December to parish members due to power outages. For each generator lent out, the church representative put the lendee’s name on an index card then affixed the barcode from the box to the back of the index card. He did this to keep track of who was loaned which generator. Lawrence and Renee Shoquist were loaned a new, still-in-original-packaging, generator. A copy of the index card was provided to Det. Coleman.
The church representative realized in May the generator he loaned to Lawrence and Renee Shoquist had not been returned. He contacted them. Renee Shoquist texted him back, stating they had been using the generator on their boat. She stated it had been misplaced or stolen. When the church representative asked if the theft had been reported to law enforcement, she stated it had not. A copy of these texts were shown to Det. Coleman.
On June 5, the church representative was in a Marathon pawn shop when he noticed a new, still-in-original-packaging, generator for sale. It was identical to the one lent to the Lawrence and Renee Shoquist in December, except for the barcode had been cut from the box. Further investigation revealed the generator had been sold to the pawn shop by Lawrence Shoquist for $200.
Warrants were issued with $10,000 bails for both Lawrence and Renee Shoquist.
They were booked into jail on Friday.
