ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996            TAG: 9602220051
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER 

4 SENTENCED IN TRACTOR THEFTS DEFENDANTS TO PAY MORE THAN $50,000 IN RESTITUTION

Four people have been sentenced in federal court for their role in an interstate tractor-theft ring and ordered to pay restitution to a Rocky Mount tractor dealer.

The four were caught after eight John Deere tractors were stolen in June from Anderson Tractor & Equipment. The tractors were sold in Lebanon, Ohio. Franklin County investigators and Lebanon police cracked the case using litter left at the crime scene.

Police traced a discarded bolt cutter by its serial number to the store in Ohio where it was purchased. Only two had been sold at that store in months, and a witness identified one of the purchasers as Michael Clay Simpson.

Simpson, who was arrested in Ohio, was sentenced last week to 21 months in prison for aiding and abetting the transportation of stolen property. He also must make restitution of $25,986.66, the bulk of it to John Deere Insurance Co. Anderson Tractor is owed $450 of that sum.

Simpson's brother, James Dean Simpson, was sentenced Tuesday to 21/2 years in prison for transporting stolen property and aiding and abetting the transportation of stolen vehicles. He was ordered to make the same restitution, with monthly payments of $50.

James Simpson escaped from a Kentucky prison last year and joined his brother, in a series of tractor thefts in six states. The brothers had distributors lined up in Ohio who were going to buy the stolen vehicles. His sentence will be served concurrently with the state charges he faces in Kentucky.

James Simpson was arrested in Delaware along with his girlfriend, Mary Louise Davis Dickerson. She pleaded guilty to assisting the offenders avoid apprehension, a charge that made her an accessory after the fact. She was sentenced to time already served - 133 days spent in jail after her arrest - and ordered to pay $450 restitution, the amount owed to Anderson tractor.

Gregory Cooper was put on three years' probation for transporting stolen property. He also must make restitution in the amount of $1,500 to Deere and Anderson.

LENGTH: Short :   45 lines