Man linked to missing Bucks men busted trying to sell one of their cars

The 20-year-old man being called a person of interest in the ongoing search for four Bucks County men missing since last week was arrested on Wednesday and charged with the theft of a car belonging to one of the missing men.

Released Tuesday on bail after being arrested earlier this week on a month-old gun charge, Cosmo Dinardo, of Bensalem, was arrested again on Wednesday afternoon, law enforcement officials said, after it was discovered that he had tried to sell a vehicle belonging to Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead, who has been missing since Friday.

During an afternoon news briefing on the four missing Bucks County men – which include Meo, Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg, Dean Finocchiaro, 18, of Middletown and Jimi Tar Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township – Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said that on Monday, Dinardo attempted to sell a 1996 Nissan Maxima that belongs to Meo.

The car was found by police on Monday in a garage on a property owned by Dinardo’s family along Aquetong Road in Solebury.

In the vehicle, Weintraub said, police discovered an unsigned title to the vehicle, showing that Meo had not signed ownership of the vehicle over to Dinardo, along with a diabetic kit that Meo needs to survive.  

Without it, the district attorney said, Meo, a diabetic, could die.

“His diabetic kit, which he never went anywhere without, was found in the vehicle,” said Weintraub.

According to court documents on Dinardo’s most recent arrest, Meo was last seen on July 7 and was reported missing after he didn’t show up for work on Saturday, July 8. The documents noted that Meo and Sturgis were friends who worked together and that Sturgis’ vehicle was found less than two miles from where Meo’s car was located.

Also, the documents claimed that police interviewed a friend of Dinardo’s who said that on Saturday, July 8, at about 5 p.m., they were contacted by Dinardo, who was looking to sell an “older model Nissan Maxima for $500.”

In an interview with police, according to the documents, Dinardo told officers he was driving a silver 2016 Ford pickup truck on Friday, July 7. In a review of the record from a mobile license plate reader belonging to Solebury Township Police, a vehicle with the same license plate as Dinardo’s truck was driving along the 2500 block of Street Road in Solebury Township at about 7:49 p.m. that night – which court documents noted is less than one mile from where Sturgis’ vehicle was found.

According to court documents, the license plate reader at that location recorded the license plate from Meo’s vehicle traveling through that area just seconds after Dinardo’s truck.

Also, Weintraub said that police have not discovered any human remains as they search a 90-acre farm that belongs to Dinardo’s family in New Hope. But the district attorney said that the search is “really intensifying.”

“We are going to find something,” said Weintraub. “I have no doubts about that.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Weintraub said that Dinardo was arrested just before the 3 p.m. news briefing. Dinardo’s bail on the new car-theft charge has been set at $5 million dollars.