WOODSFIELD — Two men are jailed as suspects in a theft ring that apparently covered multiple communities in the Ohio Valley, with $50,000-$80,000 in stolen property recovered.
Monroe County Sheriff Charles Black discussed the case.
“It stretched into West Virginia, into Monroe County and all the way into Belmont County,” Black said. “There was campers, dump trailers, Kubota tractors (stolen).”
He said on Oct. 5, Allen Brown was arrested after reportedly providing false information about his identity during a traffic stop on a green Ford truck for a cracked windshield. Brown was jailed for obstruction.
Later that day, the sheriff’s office received information that a stolen camper from Bethlehem, West Virginia, was located at Brown’s residence in Jackson Township. Upon investigating the information, Black said deputies located the stolen camper.
The sheriff said law enforcement also found stolen items at more sites.
“They have been hitting a large area,” he said. “There was a dump trailer that was stolen off of a brand-new lot, which we recovered, and there was a bunch of storage units they broke into, because the (West Virginia) State Police came over and they recovered a bunch of property. There was a camper that was stolen out of Bethlehem, West Virginia.”
On Oct. 6, deputies obtained and served a search warrant at the Jackson Township property where the stolen camper was located. Black said during the course of the search warrant, additional stolen property was recovered, including a dump trailer stolen from St. Mary’s, West Virginia. In addition, stolen property from a break-in of storage units in Pleasants County, West Virginia, was also found during the search. Black said illegal drugs located at the residence included methamphetamine and suspected Fentanyl along with drug paraphernalia.
On Oct. 9, deputies made contact with Kayley Edgell at Brown’s residence. Edgell was arrested and transported to the Monroe County Jail on charges of possession of drug abuse instruments and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Later that day, the New Martinsville Police Department assisted in locating a stolen enclosed trailer in New Martinsville. The trailer reportedly contained additional stolen items linked to the stolen camper from Bethlehem, as well as stolen property from the storage units in Pleasants County.
In the following days a Kubota tractor reported stolen in Jackson Township in August was also found in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and a stolen Kubota attachment in Tyler County, West Virginia.
“The Kubota tractor was stolen at the end of August,” Black said. “So they have been running for a couple of months.”
Three additional search warrants were executed in connection with the multi-agency investigation. As the various searches were conducted, additional stolen property was located. The investigation was a joint operation involving Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies and detectives, St. Mary’s Police Department, Tyler County Sheriff’s Office, New Martinsville Police Department, Bethlehem Police Department and the West Virginia State Police.
Black said this resulted in about 14 criminal cases in and outside of Monroe County being solved.
Edgell of Wheeling and Brown of Sardis were being housed at the Monroe County Jail on Thursday on various theft, receiving stolen property, breaking and entering and drug possession charges.
Black does not anticipate any additional arrests.
“There’s no evidence that supports anyone else was involved with this, but the investigation will be ongoing,” he said, adding that there has been a recent theft of an ATV at Z-Hill Road in Jackson Township that may be related.
“Because it was only a mile or so away from where we had a Kubota tractor stolen, so we feel that group from down on the riverfront is responsible for that four-wheeler,” he said. “We might end up getting something down the road. Nothing yet has popped. A lot of times we’ll end up getting these individuals that own property, and they’ll come down and call us. They’re there for deer season and say: ‘Our four-wheeler or our side-by-side was in the locked containment cargo carrier out there. The lock was cut off and the four-wheeler’s gone.’
“I’m not saying there isn’t additional stuff, it’s just that nothing to our knowledge has been reported yet.”
He went on.
“There was a storage unit up in Bellaire … that was full of stolen property,” he said. “I really don’t know what they recovered up there.”
Bellaire Police Chief J.J. Watson said the storage buildings were on West 23rd Street. He said no stolen items from Bellaire were found. The suspects apparently were only using the sites as storage.
According to the Monroe County Clerk of Courts Office, Edgell and Brown were arraigned Tuesday before Common Pleas Judge Julie Selmon and pleaded innocent to all charges. Information regarding their future court dates could not be obtained Thursday.
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