January 25, 2016
- By Paul Joseph, Paragon Communications News Director -
More arrests have been made in connection with the larceny of fuel from two area cooperatives as well as the recovery of a couple fuel tankers.
According to Washita County Sheriff Roger Reeve, his department has found two fuel trailers which are believed to have been involved in the theft of fuel from Western Producer’s Coop and maybe other areas in Washita and Kiowa Counties.
In a statement from the sheriff’s office, both fuel tanks had been reported stolen and the owners have identified the tanks.
Also recovered have been over two-thousand gallons of diesel fuel and approximately 80-100 gallons of gasoline that was stored in fuel tanks and chemical tote containers believed to have been stolen from the coop as well as possibly from area oilfields, construction and farm sites.
Reeve says the case is still actively being investigated and the recovery of more items is possible. The sheriff says three more people have been arrested in the case bringing the total number of arrests to date to 19. Those arrested are Jacob Anthony Hernandez, Dennis Dewayne Todd and Kirbie Ray Celsor. And, Reeve says other arrest warrants are expected to be presented to the District Attorney’s office.
The first 16 people were arrested earlier in the month after the stolen fuel was brought to the attention of law enforcement. At that time, at least $14-thousand dollars was known to have been stolen from Western Producer’s Cooperative.
According to Washita County Sheriff Roger Reeve, 14 individuals were taken into custody on Thursday, January 7 and Friday morning, January 8 after being observed to be allegedly engaged in the larceny of fuel at the coops fuel locations at Dill City and/or Sentinel locations.
At that time, Reeve said both locations were observed simultaneously by surveillance cameras and by the online fuel manager system that allowed law enforcement to confirm whether the individuals were buying fuel or actively engaging in the larceny of fuel.
In the latest press release, Reeve says that deputies are still processing all the surveillance footage and the coop’s fuel logs to determine others who may have been involved in the thefts.
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