Two men have been charged after police said they were caught late Monday night using a U-Haul box truck to dump hundreds of tires in the parking lot of SEPTA's North Philadelphia train station. The Philadelphia Police Department said on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, that officers were called to the lot on the 1400 block of West Indiana Avenue at about 11:48 p.m. on Monday and found an estimated 200 to 350 tires being unloaded onto the property.

Source: WPHL via 2822 News

Police identified the men as Charles Arttaway, 52, of Philadelphia, and Paul Gamble, of Darby, in Delaware County. Both men were charged with criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy and scattering rubbish. The charges are allegations: neither man has been convicted, and both are presumed innocent unless a court finds otherwise.

What police say each man did

Investigators allege that Gamble rented the U-Haul and drove it to the station lot, while Arttaway was seen unloading tires from the truck onto the property, according to police accounts carried by NBC10, 6abc and FOX 29. Officers who arrived at the scene found the box truck at the lot with tires spilling out around the vehicle, a tow truck operator who later came to remove the U-Haul told FOX 29.

One man's account: “I figured I was just doing an honest job”

Arttaway gave a different account of his own role to NBC10. He told the station that a man and a woman approached him at a gas station and offered him $40 to help unload the truck, and that he did not believe he was doing anything wrong. “There's already tires there. So, I figured I was just doing an honest job,” he told NBC10. He also said he would not do it again. That account is his version of events; police have charged both men, and the case will be decided in court.

Not a one-off: nine cases at the same lot in six weeks

What lifts this case beyond a single night's dumping, according to police, is the pattern. The Police Department's Neighborhood Services Unit described the station lot as a long-standing dumping location and said it has handled nine cases involving tires and box trucks at the same lot in roughly the past six weeks, FOX 29 reported. Investigators also believe the same U-Haul used on Monday night could be connected to a separate illegal-dumping incident, and they are reviewing surveillance video and examining whether the two men are linked to other cases.

The lot sits at a working transit station in North Philadelphia, where commuters park and catch trains. Dumped tires are more than an eyesore for a neighbourhood: piles of discarded tires collect standing water, attract pests and are expensive for the city and property owners to remove, and illegal dumping in residential areas is a long-running complaint in Philadelphia, where cleanup crews regularly haul away tires dumped on lots and side streets. Police have not said who owned the tires dumped on Monday or where they came from.

What happens next

The investigation remains ongoing, the police department said. The next steps are the court appearances for Arttaway and Gamble on the criminal mischief, conspiracy and scattering rubbish charges, and the police review of surveillance footage for the possible second incident. Police announced the arrests and the men's names on Wednesday, two days after the Monday-night call, and have not announced any additional arrests.