A Memphis, Tenn., business owner pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield, Mo. on Monday to his role in a cargo theft scheme that included a theft in West Plains, Mo.

Earl Stanley Nunn, 59, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to theft of an interstate shipment.

Nunn’s co-conspirators included his nephew, Michael Lee Sherley, Memphis, Tenn., who pleaded guilty on March 19, 2014, and his son, Roderick Nunn, who pleaded guilty in a related case in Michigan and others.

Nunn, the owner of Nu World Trucking, was the leader of a cargo theft ring that used the resources of his company to steal cargo in various states, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri.

They did so by bobtailing through truck stops and service stations located on or near interstate highways, looking for semi-trailers that had been left parked and unattended, and were not coupled to road tractors. When they located a semi-trailer that appeared to be unattended, they would steal the semi-trailer and the goods it contained by coupling their road tractor truck to it and driving off. After having stolen a semi-trailer and its contents, they usually transported the stolen goods to the Chicago, Ill., and Detroit, Mich., areas to be “fenced” or sold.

Under federal statutes, Nunn and Sherley are each subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000.

A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.