Published: May 18, 2009 10:48 am      

More pleas heard in Webcoat case

Still no jail time in employee thefts

Four more former workers charged in a theft ring involving $80,000 in stolen merchandise have entered into plea bargains in the case, escaping jail time in exchange for restitution orders.

Jackie Hill Courts, 44, James Edward Brown, 51, and Patrick Earl Warren, 41, all of McAlester, have been given deferred sentences over the past three weeks in exchange for their pleas involving merchandise thefts from Webcoat. The three had worked for the manufacturer of outdoor tables, benches and other furniture until a McAlester police probe revealed missing shipments dating back to 2004.

Over the next few months, the company’s owners and police recovered stolen furniture in various places over a three-county area: A Latimer County church, a bench bolted to a city sidewalk in McAlester, discarded in ditches and even a lake. Some of the property was collected from the back yards of unsuspecting recipients; other pieces were found in the yards of suspects, some of it still palleted and covered in plastic wrap.

Brown pleaded guilty May 8 to larceny of merchandise from a retailer and judgment and sentencing were deferred for three years. On April 27, Courts and Warren pleaded no contest to felony conspiracy to commit larceny from a wholesaler. Judgment and sentencing were deferred for five years for each, and each was also ordered pay $5,000 in restitution.

Also charged with conspiracy in the case was Melvin Lon Brown, 41, of McAlester, convicted in March after he pleaded guilty. He was given a five-year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution.

In addition, Kyle Kirkpatrick, 27, of McAlester pleaded guilty April 17 for a two-year deferral and an order to pay Webcoat $2,100 in restitution.

Also convicted was David W. Lawson, 36, of Krebs, who pleaded guilty in March for a five-year suspended sentence.

The six are among 12 people arrested in the case after an investigation revealed a pattern of missing shipments over four years. Charges against three other former workers have been dismissed and another employee, Keith Creekmore, is scheduled for a May 20 court appearance.

Additionally, a former jailer remains charged with five counts of larceny, and Court-Hill’s husband, Lindsay Dwayne Hill, faces charges in adjacent Latimer County where some of the stolen property was allegedly found. Hill’s district court arraignment in the case was May 7 and his next court appearance is set for Aug. 26.

The remaining case, against former Pittsburg County jailer Roy Paul Rodgers, 37, of rural McAlester, remains pending. Charged with five counts of felony larceny of merchandise from a wholesaler, District Attorney Jim Miller said in March he was a friend of Rodgers and that he would recuse himself from the case because of his friendship and because he may be called as a witness. Miller said that instead, his assistant District Attorney, Mike Miller, would handle the case.

Asked why he didn’t recuse his entire office, Jim Miller said there was no conflict of interest between his office and Rodgers.

“If I had to recuse my office out of everybody I know and am friends with, we wouldn’t be prosecuting anybody,” the district attorney said in March. But Friday, Mike Miller said the office would ask the state Attorney General’s office to appoint another prosecutor.

“We’ll send a letter to the (Attorney General’s) office ... in the next couple of days,” Mike Miller said. He said Friday he “was not real sure what the reason is” for the recusal.

Rodgers was charged after a McAlester police officer reported he had once purchased one of the tables from Rodgers — the officer later sold it to another McAlester policeman — not suspecting it had been stolen. The officer reported the transaction when he learned of the thefts and suspected the table had been stolen.

Meanwhile, Mike Miller said Friday that the victim in the case, Webcoat owner Rodney Webb, has approved each plea bargain handed down, with $14,600 in restitution ordered so far.

“Oh yes,” the assistant district attorney said. “In fact, we asked him what he wanted out of all this, and his input was the biggest part in putting together the plea packages.”

Contact Kandra Wells at kwells@mcalesternews.com.