Fayetteville police link statewide theft ring

Leedrick Hinton
Leedrick Hinton

FAYETTEVILLE -- A muddy shoeprint started a statewide investigation that cracked a major theft ring.

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Mark Mosley

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Larry Wilson

"This is a very big operation going on," said Kevin Metcalf, Washington County deputy prosecuting attorney.

Costly theft of commercial property

No centralized and exhaustive data exist for every loss from commercial agriculture equipment thefts. The National Equipment Register estimates the annual regional costs of equipment theft vary $300 million to $1 billion with most regions having losses about $400 million. The average estimated value of a stolen piece of equipment is $17,400.

Source: 2013 Equipment Theft Report

Police arrested three men involved in stealing equipment and selling it, possibly out of state, according to police and Washington County court documents. Agencies in other cities and counties elsewhere in the state are making arrests for similar thefts, police said.

The case is built on cellular phone records, cellular tracking and investigative work from several law enforcement agencies, including the Arkansas State Police, Metcalf said. Sixteen agencies met a few weeks ago to compare cases of commercial equipment theft, he said. At least 15 burglaries in central, eastern and Northwest Arkansas are linked to the theft ring, said Detective Scott O'Dell, the Fayetteville investigator who broke the case.

The theft ring has operated for more than a year, Metcalf said.

Equipment was stolen from businesses in cities including Bryant, England, Altheimer, Stuttgart, Morrilton, Russellville and Palestine, police said. The thieves targeted all-terrain vehicles, tractors and zero-turn lawnmowers, court records show. Some of that equipment has not been found.

Thieves made off with two backhoe attachments and tractors, nabbing roughly $50,000 in merchandise in a single night, said Mark Blankenship, special agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The bureau is a not-for-profit organization supported by insurance companies and self-insured organizations that works with law enforcement agencies, according to its website.

The investigation is ongoing as police analyze data and try to piece together who was involved in finding, stealing and selling equipment, Metcalf said.

Metcalf and Blankenship did not have an exact overall value for what has been stolen by the ring, but a rough estimate based on a court document show more than $100,000 worth of equipment was taken in six instances from January to April.

"It's substantial," Metcalf said about the money involved. "You look at the time they have been operating that we know about -- it's a substantial amount of money."

Fighting Farm Thefts

The investigation started with a muddy shoe imprint, according to preliminary police reports.

Police stopped Leedrick Hinton while he was walking March 27 near a Fayetteville store that had been burglarized, the report shows. Hinton wore a T-shirt, despite the 30-degree weather, and was wearing shoes with the same pattern found at the crime scene, a preliminary report shows.

Video of the crime showed more people than Hinton were involved, but they drove away when a lawn mower got stuck in a fence and ran out of gas. The mower had Hinton's shoe imprint on it, according to documents.

Just north of the business, police found another mower, also out of gas. Video from a business nearby showed a U-Haul truck and a white SUV involved, according to a report.

Hinton, 32, of 1501 W. 12th St. in North Little Rock pleaded not guilty April 29 to burglary and theft of property, both felonies. He is free on bond. He has a July 13 trial date in Washington County Circuit Court.

Phone numbers listed in Hinton's cellphone linked several people to several burglaries that involved a moving truck, a white vehicle and commercial property thefts, records show. Cellphone information then led police to know who was in the area when burglaries happened, records show.

Police arrested Mark Mosley, 44, of 1519 Allen St. in North Little Rock as the possible "ring leader" May 28, records show.

Mosley owns a white Tahoe and has a phone number that placed him in the same area at the same time as four burglaries, according to an affidavit. A man told police he worked with Mosley, who coordinated the burglaries, documents show. Mosely likely set up the burglaries, including getting a U-Haul and a driver, according to a preliminary report.

Mosely is also linked to phone calls from Hinton's phone made after his arrest, according to an affidavit.

Mosley pleaded not guilty Friday to commercial burglary, theft of property and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, all felonies. He has a Sept. 16 trial date.

Mosley was at the Washington County Detention Center with a $50,000 bond Friday.

On the same day police arrested Mosley, officers arrested a man they said found buyers for the stolen goods, Metcalf said.

Larry Wilson, 50, of 1205 Peterson Drive in Wynne was arrested after he texted Mosley to procure specific equipment, according to a search warrant issued April 23. Wilson sold stolen equipment, police said.

Wilson is a crop consultant for Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings Co. and owns an agriculture business in Wynne, records show. Messages left Tuesday for Pinnacle asking if Wilson remains a consultant was not returned. The company's email for media inquiries was undeliverable.

Wilson was booked into the Washington County Detention Center on May 28 in connection with two counts of accomplice and engaging in continuing gang crime. He was released from jail the same day with a $5,000 bond, according to jail records.

More information is coming as more phone data is gathered, Metcalf said. Each jurisdiction must bring its own charges, he said. Metcalf said he has not seen a similar theft ring.

"We're still trying to get the pieces put together," Metcalf said.

Growing Theft Rings

Theft rings are growing in Arkansas, Blankenship said.

Metcalf said investigators are looking into whether the equipment theft ring is linked to thefts from semitrailers in eastern Arkansas earlier this year.

People will take any product as long as there is a market for it, Blankenship said.

"Criminal rings, they have been around, and they will continue to be around, but for Arkansas, in the past, I don't think it has been as lucrative as it is currently," he said.

Some lawnmowers can cost about $5,000 each and some of the other equipment runs $15,000 or more, Blankenship said.

Stolen equipment is sold to people who sometimes don't know it's stolen, Blankenship said. The seller gives the buyer a discount that seems too good to be true and often is, he said.

Police are still investigating who the buyers were for the stolen equipment, O'Dell said.

"That's the big question -- if they didn't have buyers for this stuff, then they wouldn't be stealing it," he said.

At the same time, law enforcement don't check equipment in yards or barns, like they might a vehicle driving on the road, Blankenship said. People can buy a stolen piece of equipment, and it's just in their garage, he said.

"It's not going to draw attention," Blankenship said.

As commercial thefts go up, so too will insurance rates, which are based on geographic locations, Blankenship said.

Arkansas ranked No. 10 among states reporting commercial equipment thefts nationwide in 2013, according to the insurance crime bureau and the National Equipment Register's annual Equipment Theft Report. The register is a national database of stolen heavy equipment and ownership to help recover equipment for owners and insurers, according to its website.

The numbers in the 2013 report are the most-recent available.

Taking small commercial grade equipment and selling it is big money, particularly in rural states, Blankenship said.

Only 21 percent of stolen equipment was recovered nationwide in 2013, according to the report.

Regions with a lot of construction and agriculture are most vulnerable, Blankenship said. The more farm and construction equipment in an area, the more likely organized theft rings will crop up, according to the theft report.

Northwest Arkansas is a strong agricultural producer, but local law enforcement agencies said the number of commercial equipment thefts in Benton and Washington counties is low.

Washington County has had five reports of stolen all-terrain-vehicles, lawnmowers and tractors this year, said Kelly Cantrell, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, in email. Last year, deputies looked into 14 reports, she said.

Benton County had an incident where a construction truck was stolen in Avoca this year, but it was recovered after the driver wrecked it, said Keshia Guyll, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman in email.

Police spokesmen for Rogers and Springdale reported few, if any, thefts of agricultural or construction equipment. Police might work a similar theft here or there, but nothing on a regular basis, said Keith Foster, Rogers Police Department spokesman, in an email.

Metcalf said the theft ring Fayetteville Police Department broke is the first case he has seen. Van Buren recently had a large theft ring operating, O'Dell said.

Small communities might not have the resources to investigate and pursue charges in theft ring cases, O'Dell said. Some commercial theft cases may never be solved because there is no central agency helping connect thefts and solve cases, he said.

The type of stolen commercial property locally does reflect the national trend, according to the bureau report. Mowers and small tractors are stolen the most often nationwide.

Benton and Washington counties border other rural states, which could put the area at risk for thefts, Blankenship said. O'Dell said the theft ring liked locations with quick access to an interstate.

Thieves can leave Springdale with stolen goods and be in rural Oklahoma in an hour. The equipment is sold for thousands of dollars, Blankenship said. People who can get stolen equipment across U.S. borders get even more money, he said.

NW News on 06/29/2015

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