Industrial AC units allegedly stripped of aluminum copper radiators
A Cassville man is facing a felony charge after allegedly stealing from the former Justin Boot building property.
Ralph Lively, 58, of Cassville, if charge with stealing $750 or more. A criminal summons has been issued, and Lively is not in custody.
According to a probable cause statement filed by Office Zachary Thompson, with the Cassville Police Department, on May 30 at about 10:47 a.m., police were informed of an alleged theft between midnight and 5 a.m. at the property on West 11th Street.
Two industrial-sized air conditioning units had been stripped of their aluminum copper radiators (ACRs), 8-12 total, valued at about $1,000.
At about 2:10 p.m., Thompson was informed a green Ford Ranger had multiple industrial- size ACRs in the bed of the pickup at a local scrapyard, but the vehicle had left before the driver could be identified.
At about 2:30 p.m., Deputy Michael Stribling, with the Barry County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a traffic stop of the suspect vehicle on Farm Road 1087, north of State Highway C, identifying Lively as the driver.
When asked where he obtained the items in the bed of the pickup, Lively said he loaded them in the vehicle earlier in the morning from a residence on Wayne Drive, and he intended to scrap them.
Thompson said Lively could not tell him where the ACRs came from originally.
An employee of the victim later arrived on scene and positively identified the ACRs as being stolen from the former Justin Boot property, which is undergoing renovations.
Lively is not in custody, and a criminal summons was issued on June 7. An initial hearing is scheduled for July 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the courtroom of Judge Robert Foulke.
Lively has failed to appear in previous court hearings for a 2020 case. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor stealing in December, allegedly taking a tool bag from an impound yard of another person’s property. For that, he was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation.
Lively also has prior felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance in 2019 and in 2019.
