Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The four were caught after being suspected of stealing eight John Deere tractors on June 25 from Anderson Tractor and Equipment in Rocky Mount. The tractors were sold in Lebanon, Ohio.
Franklin County investigators and Lebanon police cracked the case using litter left at the scene of the crime.
They traced a discarded bolt cutter using its serial number to the store in Ohio where it was purchased. Only two had been sold at that store in months, and a witness identified one of the purchasers as Michael Clay Simpson, 25.
Simpson pleaded guilty Monday to transporting the tractors across state lines, a federal crime. Gregory Cooper, 38, pleaded guilty to the same thing. James Dean Simpson, 32, is expected to plead guilty this morning.
Mary Louise Davis Dickerson, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to assisting the offenders in order to avoid apprehension, a charge that made her an accessory after the fact.
The eight tractors were valued at $41,720.
After finding the bolt cutter, police found an abandoned U-Haul vehicle in Lebanon. In it, they found a piece of plywood that matched the wooden ramp found at Anderson Tractor and Equipment. They also found another key piece of evidence: a metal sticker with a stock number matching one of the tractors that had been stolen. The U-Haul was traced to Roanoke, where it had been rented by James Simpson.
According to FBI special agent Gerald Fayed, James Simpson escaped from a Kentucky prison and joined his brother on a series of tractor thefts in six states. They had distributors lined up in Ohio who would buy the stolen vehicles.
Both Dickerson and James Simpson have additional charges pending against them in other states.
by CNB