|
Close to $200,000 in equipment recovered from ring targeting Upstate and NC
By Jay King
HOMETOWN NEWS
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of heavy equipment from a construction company on Southport Road sometime over the weekend of July 17, according to Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Ivey.
Demarcus Terrl Moore, 22, of 1631 Fernwood-Glendale Rd., Spartanburg, Sidney Duron Truesdale, 25, of 7700 Stevens Mill Rd., Matthews, NC, and Brandon James White, 24, of 609 Garvin Lake Rd., Gaffney, have all been charged in connection with the theft of a Bobcat mini excavator and a 16-foot trailer from the E. Luke Greene Company in Spartanburg.
Ivey said that all three subjects have been charged with receiving stolen goods valued greater than $5,000. Moore was taken into custody without incident July 24 when he came to see his probation agent in Spartanburg.
Truesdale was arrested by officers of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department after being notified by the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office that he was wanted in connection with the heavy equipment theft. Ivey said that when officers went to one of the locations known to be frequented by Truesdale, they discovered the suspect standing in the yard. When he spotted officers he dropped a handgun and fled on foot. He was apprehended a short time later.
Truesdale is being held by Charlotte-Mecklenburg authorities pending extradition back to Spartanburg County.
The third suspect, White, was arrested by Union County Sheriff’s deputies July 19 after a deputy made a traffic stop on a Ford F-350 truck hauling a mini excavator and trailer that was later determined to be the ones stolen from Spartanburg County.
According to a statement released by Union County Sheriff David Taylor, the traffic stop that led to White’s arrest was initiated due to the trailer’s having defective taillights. When the deputy stopped the truck, two black males got out and fled the scene on foot.
Sheriff Taylor said in the statement that bloodhounds from the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and the helicopter from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the subsequent search for the subjects. A short time after the search was begun, a subject matching the description of one of the individuals who fled the truck approached the secured scene of the traffic stop and spoke to a Union Public Safety Officer.
The subject was detained and gave his name as James Michael Roseboro after being unable to produce identification for officers. A search through communications found no match for that information, so the subject was taken to the Union County Jail where he was subsequently identified as the White subject. Further checks revealed that he was wanted in Georgia on prior charges
The Union sheriff’s statement states that a records check of the truck revealed it had been stolen from Pineville, NC. The mini excavator and trailer were the ones stolen from Spartanburg. White later admitted to investigators that he had been driving the stolen truck. He was then charged by Union County with improper lights, DUS 3rd offense, failure to stop for police, giving false information to police, habitual offender, two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest.
Further investigation in Union County has enabled the sheriff’s office to recover close to $200,000 in stolen property including four skid-steer loaders, two mini excavators, four trailers, three equipment attachments and the Ford truck. The items recovered were reported stolen from Greenville, Spartanburg and Lexington counties in South Carolina and from Pineville and Belmont, North Carolina.
Sheriff Taylor said in the statement that he believes the suspects are part of an organized ring that has been working in several states. He said that multiple agencies have assisted in the investigation, including the FBI, the Spartanburg, Newberry, Cherokee, Lexington and Greenville county sheriff’s offices, and in North Carolina the Pineville Police, Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Taylor said more arrests are expected as investigators continue to question the suspects and recover stolen goods. Anyone who has additional information is asked to call Union County Crime Stoppers at (864)427-0800 or Spartanburg Crime Stoppers at 58-CRIME.
jking@hometown-news.com
 Email This Post
|
