An American man has been charged with theft after an 18-metre pedestrian bridge was stolen from a rural Ohio property.

Police in the Ohio town of Akron said they had arrested 63-year-old David Bramley after finding the partly disassembled bridge when they executed a search warrant on his property, about 30 kilometres away.

“A team of police officers converged on a property in Medina County and conducted a search warrant,” Akron Police Department said in a statement on Tuesday (Australian time).

“During a search of the property, the bridge was found partially disassembled.”

The bridge – described as a Lego-like structure – had once crossed the Little Cuyahoga River in Middlebury Run Park, near the global headquarters of tyre company Goodyear.

It was moved to an open field in about 2003, as part of a wetland restoration project. It had been stored on park property, awaiting repurposing for a women’s shelter project.

On November 3, police found someone had removed the treated decking from the two-metre high, three-metre-wide structure.

“On November 11th, the entire structure was gone,” they said.

Police allege that Mr Bramley – who previously worked in the area – paid a local trucking company to crane the bridge on and off a vehicle that took it to his Medina County property.

Mr Bramley has been charged with felony theft and will appear in Akron Municipal Court later this week.

Police are arranging the bridge’s return to Akron.