A third person has been arrested in a conspiracy involving the theft in Arkansas of a shipment of approximately 107 guns headed to Gander Mountain retail stores in Houston.
Court documents show that Markeith Deshun Thomas, 36, of Memphis was arrested on a federal warrant in Memphis last week and was taken to Little Rock, where he made an initial appearance this week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney on a charge of conspiracy to possess and dispose of stolen firearms.
He was arrested on a criminal complaint and likely will face indictment by a federal grand jury, which meets monthly.
In early March, a grand jury in Little Rock indicted Curtis Earl Evans and Mario Marquell Ward, both of Memphis, on the same charge.
A federal affidavit linking the three men to the Jan. 11 theft of guns from the back of a tractor-trailer rig parked at a roadside truck parking area off Interstate 55 in Mississippi County shows that Evans was arrested first, on Feb. 10, and Ward was arrested Feb. 27. It said a federal agent received information Feb. 26 that led to Thomas' arrest.
The affidavit, obtained Thursday, indicates that a local, state and federal investigation into a string of tractor-trailer break-ins is deepening.
From late December through Feb. 8, more than 80 tractor-trailer rigs were broken into in Crittenden, Mississippi and St. Francis counties along a stretch of I-55 from West Memphis to north of Turrell and a stretch along Interstate 40 between Forrest City and West Memphis, according to the affidavit.
Written by Agent Shannon McKittrick-Cruse of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in support of arrest warrants, the affidavit appears to have expanded since it was initially used to support Evans' arrest in February.
McKittrick-Cruse said in the document that the break-ins of parked rigs have involved the theft of many items being transported by the big trucks, although federal charges have so far focused only on the firearms.
Documents show that the stolen guns were being transported from a Gander Mountain distribution center in Lebanon, Ind., to two Gander Mountain stores in the Houston area. The loss is estimated at $39,264.
Among the other types of cargo that has been reported stolen from tractor-trailer rigs are food products from Tyson Foods trucks, 15 Mongoose bicycles, an unspecified amount of Chocolate Delight cakes, a number of Apple MacBook computers from a UPS truck and more than 50 Goodyear Wrangler tires, as well as unspecified items from a Jennie-O Turkey truck.
Five of the stolen computers were recovered in the Memphis area, and "all current investigative leads indicate" that the thieves are from the Memphis area, according to the affidavit.
"The modus operandi has been, during the cover of night while truckers are parked at rest areas or truck stops sleeping, the serialized container seals on the backs of their commercial 18 wheeler trucks have been broken, the doors of the trailer have been opened, and the cargo inside has been examined by unknown perpetrators," the agent wrote, adding, "After examining the contents of the load, the burglars either steal items to their liking, or leave the load intact."
Evans was arrested after a car registered to him was found parked at the edge of a field near a parking area on I-55 where about 3 a.m. Feb. 10, several trucks were broken into, including one headed to a Sam's Club distribution center in Searcy. The affidavit said that 49 cases of a combination of Kool-Aid Jammers and Capri Sun drinks were reported taken from that truck, and officers searching the area a short time later found the car with a large number of Kool-Aid and Capri Sun products visible in the back seat.
Evans, found hiding in a nearby ditch, admitted that he and Ward broke into several trucks that morning, and told authorities that three other people had been stealing tractor-trailer cargo for "some time," according to the affidavit. It indicates that Evans' confiscated cellphone led authorities to Ward, who left a text message saying he had a prospective buyer for some of the guns and who was later reported seen by someone else selling new guns for $400 apiece.
An officer with the Memphis Police Department told McKittrick-Cruse on Feb. 26 that a "concerned citizen" had reported seeing Thomas with a "house full" of guns he was selling for $150 apiece shortly after the theft from the Gander Mountain truck, the agent wrote, explaining how the investigation led to Thomas, as well.
Metro on 03/28/2015