The Ogdensburg house that was stripped of it aluminum siding earlier this summer is no ordinary crime scene.

It was city property when it happened.

On Friday, city police arrested Tory A. Pray, 27, of 611 Rensselaer Ave., for petit larceny, Ogdensburg police said. He allegedly stripped old aluminum siding from his rented home and sold it for scrap for about $3OO, according to Detective David M. Layng.

The city Comptroller’s Office confirmed Monday that 611 Rensselaer Ave. was acquired by the city on June 23 for $2,993.77 in unpaid 2010 and 2011 city and school taxes.

The house was owned by Bernard Huntley.

Mr. Layng said Monday that the police investigation began Aug. 8 when he was contacted by the city’s code enforcement officer, Gregg A. Mallette. He said the aluminum siding was taken from the two-story house sometime after the city’s acquisition.

Mr. Pray, police said, acted alone.

It hasn’t been determined yet what the city will do with the house. But fixing it up is unlikely, according to Mr. Mallette.

“To re-side a house like that with vinyl siding, you’re talking $8,000 to $10,000,” he said Monday. “We’ll probably just cut our losses an sell it as is.”

Mr. Pray is due to be arraigned in city court today.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer