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NEWS BRIEFS
$1 million worth of stolen heavy equipment recovered in Carter County, Kentucky
John Buckner, 61
GRAYSON, Ky. -- The owners of all but two or three of some two dozen pieces of heavy equipment recovered in Carter County have been identified and have been notified, Sheriff Kevin McDavid said Monday.
"Some of the stolen equipment already has been returned and other people are making arrangements to pick them up," McDavid said.
The value of the heavy equipment recovered in the Willard area of Carter County was estimated at $1 million and is by far the biggest recovery of stolen property in the county in at least 20 years, said McDavid. He is in his third term as sheriff and has been involved in law enforcement for the past two decades.
The list of recovered heavy equipment in the past 10 days includes three bulldozers, a road grader, an excavator, several low-boy trailers used to haul heavy equipment, several small trailers, two box trailers, a new Kubota tractor, three dump trucks, two semi tractor-trailers and a Bobcat excavator, he said.
The equipment was stolen over the past few years from across the Tri-State, McDavid said. Some of the equipment was stolen from Cabell and Wayne counties in West Virginia, and Boyd, Greenup, Pike and Morgan counties in Kentucky, he said.
Only one person has been arrested in the joint local and federal investigation thus far. John Buckner, 61, of Ky. 1496, Grayson, is charged with two counts of receiving stolen property. He is lodged in the Carter County Detention Center on $100,000 bond set by Carter County District Judge Rupert Wilhoit, according to a deputy jailer.
"There could be other arrests," McDavid said. "There will be other charges filed. We could take the case to a Carter County grand jury or to a federal grand jury. A decision hasn't been made yet, but we're leaning towards taking the case to federal court."
County officials are working on the case with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Huntington, he said.
The heavy equipment likely was moved to several locations in the Willard area on trailers, McDavid said. Universal ignition keys also could have been used, he said.
