Published: November 27, 2009 10:18 am      

More details in chop shop conspiracy

Corbin men allegedly used barn behind home to alter stolen vehicles

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Sam C. Gilbert, 73, and H.C. McDaries, 73, both of Corbin, with four others, have been indicted in federal court on charges that they conspired to operate a chop shop in Gilbert’s barn on Buffalo Branch Road in Knox County.

In a partially sealed indictment returned Tuesday, Gilbert and McDaries, along with Larry B. Neal, 50, of New Tazwell, Tenn. and Ricky Lee McDaries, 50, of Big Stone Gap, Va., with two other unidentified persons, were charged in the single count document.

The indictment alleges that sometime in about August 2008, Gibson was allegedly approached by a person, charged in the indictment whose name has been redacted thus far, “about using a barn located behind Gilbert’s residence ... as a chop shop for stolen vehicles.”

Gilbert agreed, it alleges, and was reportedly assisted by others listed in the indictment in converting the barn into a garage-type facility.

Shortly after the alterations, H.C. and Ricky L. McDaries and others allegedly began using the garage to “receive, conceal, destroy, disassemble, dismantle, reassemble and store passenger motor vehicles and passenger motor vehicle parts that were unlawfully obtained.”

On about April 30, Gilbert allegedly arranged to buy a cab from a stolen 2005 white Peterbilt tractor truck from the McDarieses.

The next day, Ricky McDaries allegedly got the cab that had been on the stolen Peterbilt from Neal in Tazwell.

That same day, the McDarieses allegedly delivered the cab to Gilbert at his garage.

Three days later two thus-far unnamed indictees reportedly delivered a red 2007 Peterbilt tractor truck to Gilbert.

On May 11, the same two unnamed indictees allegedly took a stolen yellow 2001 Peterbilt tractor truck to Gilbert. The next day the McDarieses allegedly delivered the hood from the previously mentioned white 2005 Peterbilt to Gilbert.

“This organization placed several stolen vehicles in interstate commerce by transferring them to residents of other states,” the indictment states.

On Tuesday the McDarieses, Neal and Gilbert were arraigned in U.S. District Court in London by Magistrate Judge Robert Weir.

A jury trial was set for Jan. 26, 2010 before District Judge Amul R. Thapar. It is expected to last five days.

The chop shop enterprise had been investigated for the past year by a task force including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police. The task force was assisted by six police agencies in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

Gilbert was reportedly arrested in January in a drug roundup and charged on two counts of first-degree trafficking in drugs in Laurel County and a count of second-degree trafficking in Whitley County.

On May 30, 2006, Gilbert was reportedly arrested by KSP officers at his Buffalo Branch Road.

He was charged on two counts of obscuring the identity of a machine and two counts of receiving stolen property worth more than $300.

The police reported that a 1999 Caterpillar 4-wheel-drive back-hoe reportedly stolen from Galatin, Tenn. on Oct. 15, 2002, and a 1998 Caterpillar D-5 Dozier stolen from Campbell County, Tenn. on May 3, 2002 were found at his home.

The equipment was estimated to be worth $200,000. Gilbert was taken to the Knox County Detention Center after that arrest.