GARY | Anthony Herbert Lee may have hoped 26,652 pounds of frozen pizza would have him rolling in dough, not delivered to jail.

Indiana State Police said Lee, 38, of Hammond, was arrested Saturday for trying to sell the nearly 13.5 tons of stolen pizza, worth more than $45,000.

A company contracted Lee to pick up 3,000 cases of Stouffer's frozen pizzas from Nation Pizza in Schaumburg, Ill., on Aug. 31 and deliver them to Springville, Utah, on Tuesday. After having motor trouble and realizing he wouldn't make the delivery date, Lee called his insurance company, according to police reports. He led the company to believe he owned the pizzas and needed to sell them, police said.

Lee began to work with Transportation Salvage, of Rockford, Ill., to move the pizzas, but the company thought the deal seemed suspicious and checked into the load, police reports said. After the company discovered the owner of the load was Nestle Corp., which owns Stouffer's, it called Indiana State Police.

Police arranged a meeting with Lee, who believed he was meeting with a representative from Transportation Salvage at a Gary truck repair shop where Lee had taken his semitrailer for repairs, police said. At one time during the conversation, Lee attempted to flee, police reports state.

Nestle Corp. had filed a stolen property report Saturday morning with the Schaumburg Police Department for the load, which was in a refrigerated trailer owned by Wisconsin-based Fast Cat Trucking. Lee owned the semitrailer, reports said.

Lee was wanted on a Hobart warrant issued in September 1998 for larceny, police said.