Investigation leads to charges against Mueller

William Mueller Jr. is being charged with breaking into a home under construction and stealing a marble tile countertop, wood decking, power tools, and other home appliance hardware, and then allegedly stashing some of the materials at the home of a Hollywood actor.

Tisbury Police have charged Mueller with breaking and entering, trespassing, destruction of property, larceny from a building, and larceny over $1,200. He is being summonsed to Edgartown District Court instead of being arrested because his attorney worked with police to have the stolen goods returned, according to the report.

Mueller is no longer affiliated with William Mueller Plumbing & Heating, the contractor’s office manager, told The Times. Attempts to reach Mueller were unsuccessful.

On Dec. 1, Tisbury Police Officer John Goeckel responded to a report of stolen items from a home on John Hoft Road in Tisbury. The homeowners who made the call told Officer Goeckel that no one, including contractors, should have been on location. A sliding door and bulkhead on the house were open, and several items in the house were allegedly missing or had been moved. 

On Dec. 10 Tisbury Police Det. Max Sherman wrote that he was informed by Oak Bluffs Lt. Timothy Williamson that Mueller had allegedly been seen with several of the stolen items at a house on Pine Street. A woman who is a tenant at the Pine Street home told police that Mueller had been keeping some of the items in the garage. Tisbury police arrived at the Pine Street house and found Mueller allegedly loading items into a pickup truck, including decking that was allegedly reported stolen.

During the course of the investigation, Tisbury Police learned that Mueller’s friend is the caretaker at a Hollywood actor’s home. Chilmark Police spotted Mueller’s Jeep driving away from the house shortly before he returned to the police station with more of the allegedly stolen property in the Jeep, the report states. A later search of the actor’s property did not turn up any more items, Sherman wrote.

At the station, after being issued an order not to trespass at the Pine Street address, “Mueller then apologized again ‘for all of this,’” Sherman wrote.