A close-knit family and some friends have gone from allegedly stealing iron weights to sitting behind iron bars.
Over the course of nine months, Webster Parish Sheriff's detectives have solved a rash of oil and gas well iron thefts that span five parishes and two counties in Arkansas.
Andrew Stiles, 39, of the 100 block of Kirby Place, has been charged with several counts of felony theft of oil and gas equipment, four counts of criminal trespassing, one count of illegal possession of stolen things and one count of felony possession of CDS Sch. I (marijuana).
Traci Savage Stiles is charged with theft of oil and gas equipment, conspiracy to commit theft of oil and gas equipment and illegal possession of stolen things over $500.
Charged with one count of theft of oil and gas equipment and one count of criminal conspiracy are Ryan Scott Savage, Austin Chase Stiles, Levi Dance, Kelvin Parker, Joshua Malham and one unidentified juvenile.
Dance and Malham also have charges of simple theft and criminal damage to property.
Det. Scott Tucker said Andrew Stiles, a saltwater truck driver for an oilfield service company, has been traveling to oil well locations, using GPS (Global Positioning System) in his cell phone for directions and stealing iron from oil well and railroad sites and selling it for scrap.
"We've known this was going on since last April," Tucker said. "But it all started breaking loose when we got a call at the end of December from an oil company, saying someone had damaged one of their stand-by units."
Tucker said deputies took a report and began looking for metal that had been removed from the site.
"Three or four days later, the person who stole it came back to the same location and cut up a $25,000-pump unit," Tucker said. "This time, they left some evidence there. When they came back a third time, through surveillance, we were able to identify some of the people."
On January 4, deputies reportedly initiated a traffic stop on Goodwill Street in Minden that led to the arrest of Traci Stiles, Ryan Savage and Austin Stiles.
"We got the truck and trailer they had been using to steal the iron," Tucker said.
Detectives learned that Andrew Stiles, the prime suspect, was arrested on January 3 in Bienville Parish for attempting to steal a car to sell for scrap.
"We interviewed Stiles that night, and he admitted to cutting up a well in Cotton Valley," said Det. T.D. Kemp. "But we've been accumulating these cases since April, and he denied knowing anything about those."
Tucker said the next step was to round up the suspects they had observed in surveillance – Dance, Malham and the juvenile.
"Then we arrested Kelvin Parker," he said. "They all pointed the finger at Andrew Stiles."
The suspects told detectives that Andrew Stiles had told them to go back to the last location and get some of the iron counterweights he had left at the site.
"Those counterweights weigh between 300 and 800 pounds," Kemp said. "Andrew admitted he took 11,000 pounds of scrap iron to a scrapyard in Homer and made about $400 off a $25,000 unit."
Suspects reportedly took the detectives to several sites, including Sibley, Porterville (between Sarepta and Cullen) into south Bossier Parish, south Arkansas and Claiborne and Jackson parishes.
"The well in Sibley was online," Kemp said. "They turned it off, then stole a counterweight off each side of the pump, so it wouldn't be off balance."
Detectives said the crew used a winch, truck and trailer to move the heavy equipment.
"We found drag marks on the ground in several locations," said Kemp.
In addition to the oil field equipment, detectives said the group stole railroad car doors.
Detectives said they are unsure how much the total amount of theft and damage will be when their investigation is finished. They are convinced there are other sites and thefts yet unidentified.
"Just here in Webster, we're probably pushing eight to 10 cases, mounting up to $150,000- to $200,000-worth," Tucker said.
Everything of which they are aware was sold to the same scrapyard in Homer.
"We're currently looking into why law enforcement wasn't notified (by the scrapyard owners) when this amount of oil field and railroad equipment was brought there," Tucker said. "We're still investigating that."
Sheriff Gary Sexton said the detectives spent several months on this case.
"It wasn't an easy case to solve," Sexton said. "They did a good job."
Not only was it difficult, Tucker said it was dangerous for the ones stealing the iron and nearby residents.
"Some of these wells are pretty close to houses," he said. "Natural gas is coming out of the ground ... it's odorless. These people were going up there with cutting torches and electric winches – pulling on stuff at well locations."
Andrew Stiles was taken to Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center, where he briefly joined his comrades before going back to Bienville Parish.
His bonds alone total $225,000.
