Memphis, Tennessee Man Sentenced for Interstate Transportation of Stolen Goods

Topics:  B & D Auto Truck Plaza

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri
March 23, 2010

ST. LOUIS, MO—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Richard J. Shorter was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release on charges of theft of an interstate shipment. Shorter was also ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution from a prior conviction that he never paid.

On November 23, 2008, Shorter went to the B & D Auto Truck Plaza in Lebanon, Missouri, where he discovered a trailer that was unattended while its driver was washing his tractor. Shorter attached the unattended trailer to his tractor and drove away. The stolen trailer was a 2000 Trailmobile 53' box trailer that contained consumer products that were being shipped from Springfield, Missouri, to Marquoketa, Iowa. The value of the goods contained in the trailer was approximately $67,000 and was intended for delivery to Dollar General. Shorter was arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. At the time of his arrest he possessed pry bars, trailer tape, bolt cutters, and other equipment used in thefts involving trailers.

RICHARD J. SHORTER, Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty December 21, 2009, to one felony count of theft of an interstate shipment. He appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Catherine D. Perry.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Lebanon, Missouri, Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.