Stolen Goods Lead To Arrests In Coffeeville
Avery Outdoors officials Tad Turner (left) and Allen Hughes (right) met with Coffeeville Police Chief Mark Martin last Friday for an update on the investigation. Hughes praised the Police Department as they examined some of the recovered merchandise taken from the company’s warehouse. – Photo by Jack Gurner
By Jack Gurner
Reporter
COFFEEVILLE – Police have arrested a 20-year-old man and his 19-year-old girlfriend after they confessed to stealing around $5000 worth of merchandise from the Avery Outdoors distribution warehouse on Tennessee Street.
Brandon Spearman, 20, and Tesla Weeks, 19, both of Coffeeville have been charged with conspiracy and grand larceny in connection with the alleged theft, according to Coffeeville Police Chief Mark Martin.
Martin said that he got a tip Saturday, Aug. 14 that a couple was going around selling Avery Products. The caller had become concerned after purchasing some of the merchandise and wanted to know if there had been any break-ins at Avery.
“I knew at the time that we hadn’t had any break-ins reported,” Martin said.
He contacted Avery Plant Manager Rosanne Easley first thing Monday, Aug. 16 and was told that they hadn’t done an inventory in the past few days because they were in their busy season. They weren’t aware of any missing merchandise.
Martin said he was given the name of a temporary employee who had been terminated and it was the same person who had been selling the products.
Martin interviewed Spearman and Weeks and they confessed to taking merchandise off the property and selling the items. “They gave us a confession and a detailed list of all the things they had sold, where they had sold them, and how many they had sold,” Martin said.
Martin estimated they had been able to sell over half of the products and the rest were hidden in the woods. The couple took police to the location of the remaining merchandise in the “dog kennel” area near County Road 143.
Avery officials did an inventory at the warehouse and discovered around $5000 worth of products were missing, Martin said. “Based on what Avery officials told us, we’ve got $3000 to $4000 worth of recovered product,” he added.
The couple had traveled around Grenada County selling to eight different businesses, according to Martin. “They told people that they had bought a bulk shipment of discontinued Avery products.”
On Friday, Avery officials from Memphis were in Coffeeville and received an update on the case from Martin. During the meeting, Allen Hughes, a co-owner of Avery Outdoors, praised the Coffeeville Police Department. “We appreciate your quick work on this,” he said.
Martin emphasized that some aspects of the case are still under investigation.
Spearman and Weeks are out on bond and were scheduled for an appearance in Coffeeville Municipal Court Tuesday.
In a separate incident, a juvenile has confessed to the burglary of an Okahoma Street residence that occurred Thursday, Aug. 5.
Martin said that among the items taken were a DVD player, a shotgun and money.
He added that during the week after the incident several suspects were interviewed and a 16-year-old male gave a confession and provided details of the burglary.
Several of the stolen items were recovered in the youth’s bedroom and information he provided led to recovery of the shotgun. The juvenile faces charges in Youth Court.
