A Kansas City, Missouri truck driver was sentenced in federal court on Monday for his role in a 14-year-long conspiracy to steal more than $1 million worth of trucks and trailers and their cargo.

Kenneth Ray Borders received 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Borders to pay nearly than $1.3 million in restitution to 27 victims.

Borders’ sentence takes into account his previous criminal history of theft of a truck, trailer and cargo, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri. He also has numerous instances of driving without a license or with a suspended license and was under a criminal sentence for driving while revoked during the conspiracy.

On Feb. 28, Borders was found guilty at trial of participating in a conspiracy that involved the theft of commercial trucks and trailers and their cargo in Missouri, Kansas, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska from 1998 to December 2013. Co-defendants Jon Dirk Dickerson of Raytown, Missouri and his son, Kyle Wayne Dickerson, of Holden, Missouri, were also convicted for their roles in the conspiracy and await sentencing.

According to prosecutors, they worked together to steal trucks, trailers, and cargo and then dispose of them. Sometimes they used the trucks and trailers themselves to make money by hauling loads for customers and sometimes they sold the stolen trucks and trailers.

Borders was also found guilty of four counts of aiding and abetting the possession of stolen goods, one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of stolen goods and one count of aiding and abetting the possession of stolen vehicles.

Evidence presented at trial focused on the thefts of five Freightliner trucks and 17 trailers between 2005 and 2011. The stolen trailers included refrigerated trailers containing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of food. Other trailers stolen also contained food, beer and shoes, worth more than $200,000.

According to prosecutors the cargo was sold cheaply to anyone who would buy it. Some of the cargo was sold out of the back of the trailer, to a tow truck driver or a convenience store operator to resell.

Co-defendant Myron Piggie, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to possessing stolen property. Piggie admitted that he accepted 12 pallets of stolen beer and agreed to sell the beer at his store, MP Convenience Store in Kansas City, and split the profits with conspirators.

Borders was also involved in stealing the trucks, trailers, and cargo. He sold the cargo to others to resell, sometimes fronting the money by allowing his “customer” to pay him after they sold the product, according to prosecutors, while he used some of the stolen trucks and trailers himself to make money by delivering cargo.

Jon Dickerson often had the first right to purchase stolen trucks and trailers, according to prosecutors, with them saying Borders actually had a “shopping list” from Dickerson listing the trucks and trailers that he wanted, so that Borders could keep an eye out for them and steal them if the opportunity presented itself.

Jon Dickerson and his son, Kyle Dickerson, also were involved in stealing trucks and trailers, according to prosecutors. They used them in their own trucking business, sometimes just for replacement parts with the remains sold for scrap.

Jon Dickerson was also found guilty of three counts of aiding and abetting the possession of stolen goods and one count of aiding and abetting the possession of stolen vehicles.

Kyle Dickerson was also found guilty of one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of stolen vehicles, two counts of aiding and abetting the possession of stolen goods and one count of aiding and abetting the possession of stolen vehicles.

 

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