Putnam County sheriff’s detectives have arrested four men in connection with an illegal “back- door” sales operation run by employees of Hallman Wood Products.
The suspects took inventory from the store and sold it for less than half the retail value, say detectives.
According to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, two current and one former employee are in custody and are charged with theft by taking for their part in the theft ring that has been going on for several years.
Lee Mathis Styles, 41, and Alton Tyrone Mathis, 33, both of Eatonton, were arrested Saturday and are each charged with theft by taking. Both men are under a $7,500 property bond.
Karl Leverett Farley, 44, of Eatonton, was arrested Monday, and was charged with theft by taking. As of press time Wednesday, he had not received a bond.
Herman Dale Little, 46, a resident of Eatonton, was also arrested and charged with theft by receiving. And officers say they expect more arrests to be made this week.
Sills said he could not quantify at this point in the investigation how much merchandise had been taken out of Hallman’s. However, he said the thefts involved a substantial amount of construction materials over the years.
Lt. Harry Luke said each sale for the trio was estimated to bring in more than $2,000, with retail values more than twice that amount.
“Little knowingly bought a couple of thousand of dollars worth of shingles and roofing materials that he knew were stolen at only a fraction of the cost,” Sills said. “We are still investigating and trying to ID houses and things like that which were built or improved with these stolen materials. The employees were selling the supplies on the side, or out-the-back-door, so to speak.”
Sills said while some individuals were buying them for home projects, others, such as subcontractors, were buying the materials for re-sale. However, Sills said there are some customers may not have known they were buying stolen goods.
“We have information where it appears that these items were sold to people who knew they were stolen, but there are probably some out there that may not have known the goods were stolen,” Sills said. “We are still interviewing people and trying to discern how long this has been going on. It appears to have been for the last several years.”
Sills said a substantial amount of money has been made from the sales.
With electronic surveillance, Sills said investigators were able to record a controlled delivery of the back-door sellers and their shipment that contained more than $5,000 worth of material at retail price. Sills said the agreed-upon price for the back-door deal was for less than half that amount.
Sills said Hallman Products employees not involved in the thefts have been working with the sheriff’s office to identify the theft ring and to help with the undercover operation. He would not say how the detectives discovered the back-door sales operation, but did say his detectives had both visual and electronic evidence of the theft ring.
Lt. Luke said more arrests are expected this week in the case.
