By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
The son of the victim in an unsolved slaying is charged in federal court with transporting a tractor loader that was stolen from a construction site in Joplin to Oklahoma and selling it.
Wesley Shawn Sanders, 44, and an alleged accomplice, Randy Dean Allen, 52, were charged in U.S. District Court in Springfield with interstate transport of a stolen vehicle. Court records show that both men were arrested Thursday.
But Allen was released on a personal recognizance bond and the charge against him was dismissed Monday at the request of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri. An order by the judge Friday had set a first appearance for Allen on Nov. 24 “upon indictment.”
Court records indicate that Sanders remains in custody, with preliminary and detention hearings set for Nov. 10.
The 2007 Case tractor loader valued at $30,000 was reported stolen overnight Oct. 19-20 from a Missouri Department of Transportation construction site at the interchange of Hearnes Boulevard and Interstate 44. The equipment belongs to James H. Drew Construction of Sedalia, according to a Joplin police report.
Sanders and Allen allegedly sold the tractor loader Oct. 27 for $2,500 to an unidentified buyer who was in the company of an undercover agent with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to an affidavit filed in federal court by an FBI special agent.
The purchase money was supplied by the BIA agent, and surveillance photographs were taken of the transaction in Miami, Okla., the affidavit states. An audio recording also was made of conversations that the buyer and undercover agent had with Sanders regarding the purchase, according to the affidavit.
Sanders is the son of Sam Sanders, 64, who was shot and killed March 24 in an early morning break-in at his home three miles east of Fairland, Okla.
Two men entered the home while Sanders, his wife and two grandchildren were sleeping. Sanders was shot while struggling with the intruders, who left Lillian “Sue” Sanders and the couple’s 20-year-old grandson tied up inside the house when they fled, according to investigators.
No one has been charged with the burglary and slaying.
Undersheriff Bob Ernst of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on whether the charge against Wesley Sanders has any bearing on the murder investigation. Ernst referred all questions to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which the Globe was unable to reach late Monday.
The FBI agent’s affidavit states that Wesley Sanders initially arrived alone to meet with the buyer of the tractor loader and the BIA agent.
The affidavit states: “Sanders was driving a red dually pickup, previously owned by his deceased father, Sam Sanders, and pulling an empty trailer. Sanders initially attempted to obtain half of the purchase price from the individual with whom he met prior to delivering the tractor. When the individual with whom he met advised Sanders that no advance payment would be made prior to the delivery of the tractor, Sanders departed.”
The affidavit alleges that Sanders returned a short time later in the pickup truck with Allen, pulling a trailer with the tractor loader on it, and the transaction was carried out.
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