If there is a list of rules not to break while committing a crime, this could be at the top: Never leave incriminating evidence at the scene.

A Wisconsin Dells suspect learned that lesson and could pay for it by spending more than a year in prison after police traced to him a watch left at the scene of a vehicle break-in.

Several tools, including a chop saw, a hammer drill, a hole auger, and other items including a cell phone and ATM card were reported stolen about 9:30 a.m. Sunday in the 800 block of Elm Street in Wisconsin Dells, police said in a criminal complaint.

The items, valued at more than $2,000, were taken sometime overnight from a truck, with the suspect or suspects entering through a broken passenger window, the complaint stated.

On the ground next to the truck was a watch the truck's owner didn't recognize; its leather band was broken, according to police.

During the investigation, a Wisconsin Dells police officer spoke with a person who recognized the watch as belonging to someone living nearby, the complaint stated.

After John T. Martin opened the door to his nearby home in response to the officer's knock, the officer reported that he noticed items on the floor that matched the description of the stolen items; they were partially covered by towels, police said in the complaint.

When the officer discovered a drill and chop saw in Martin's home, Martin told him that he wasn't the person who broke into the truck but that the officer might have him on possessing stolen property, according to the complaint.

The officer also found an ATM card, business cards, a cell phone and a multitool in Martin's home that belonged to the truck's owner, according to the complaint. Martin found the items after the officer informed him that he would have to pay for anything that was not recovered, the complaint stated.

Martin is free on a $5,000 signature bond after an initial appearance Monday in Columbia County Circuit Court on charges of felony theft and misdemeanor criminal damage to property and entry into a locked vehicle. The theft charge carries a maximum initial penalty of 1 1/2 years in prison; each misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of nine months in jail.

Martin, 37, is scheduled for a pretrial conference Nov. 30.

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