Two men are jailed and three others are on the run—wanted for stealing equipment from a wind farm operation in southern Oklahoma.
KXII TV reports the arrests and charges come after trailers loaded with special equipment used for the wind turbines were stolen from the Wind Farms in Murray County.
“I mean they really put a financial damper on this company,” said Murray County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Eddy.
The investigation eventually led deputies to some of the stolen goods.
“They actually had one vehicle (that) they hooked up individually to each trailer, took it to a staging area in Springer,” Eddy said. “Then after they had all the trailers out, they later moved them to the Ardmore area.”
But the undoing of the thieves occurred when a wind farm employee saw one of the trailers posted for sale on social media. A suspect identified as Blaine Jung had posted the sale.
With the help of Ardmore police, Eddy says they were able to get that trailer back as well as two others. One of the trailers was found in Jung’s backyard while others were found at Springdale Loop and at a local business.
About $12,000 in stolen property was recovered in Healdton and the fourth trailer was discovered in Pauls Valley.
“One trailer is still unaccounted for and we’re hoping to get some information on that soon,” Eddy told the TV station.
From their investigation Eddy says they’ve linked, Jung, Joseph Guess, Dallas Lee, Joshua Bolding and Robert Nichols to the theft and sale of the $300,000 worth of property.
Eddy says they believe Jung, Guess, Lee and Bolding stole the equipment and Nichols assisted in selling it.
Bolding and Nichols are currently in jail for unrelated charges but will be transferred to Murray County.
Guess, Jung and Lee are still at large.
All five combined face a total of 25 felony charges including multiple counts of grand larceny.
