Ganado police hunt for corn thieves

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

Jan. 20, 2004 - Police are searching for the thieves who made off with two 18-wheelers of corn from the Rice Belt Warehouse in Ganado during the very early morning hours of Jan. 11.

Norman Glaze, Ganado Police Department's chief of police, said his investigations are pointing to the possibility the stolen corn "was taken south, to the Valley" where there are several feedyards.

At press time Monday morning, Jan. 17, Glaze said no arrests had been made, but they still have some strong "feelers out."

Speculation also centers on the thieves having previous, and recent, knowledge of the load-out systems at the warehouse facility.

"They (police) think they loaded out earlier and knew we had the corn in (a specific) overhead" loading unit. "They knew we could fill a truck in about 15 minutes," shared Dick Ottis, Rice Belt Warehouse executive vice president and CEO, "so they knew they could get in-and-out in a hurry.

"And the devils, they weren't even courteous enough to close the overhead loadout, so about four loads were on the ground" when the situation was discovered. Ottis added most of it was on concrete, and the use of front-end loaders helped with the clean up. "But some fell on gravel and we had to discard that."

Glaze also noted weather conditions were very foggy, which provided some "cover" for the theft.

Ottis and Glaze both noted the theft of the corn was a unique situation. "We've never had anything like this happen before. It's a mystery, still," Ottis said on Jan. 12.

Rice Belt Warehouse, Inc., has six warehouses where area farmers' rice, corn, and milo are stored (mostly rice). The corn that was stolen had been purchased from area farmers by three or four companies. "We will take care of it," Ottis said about the company's willingness to compensate for the loss. ... It was about an $8,500 loss."

Because of the corn's value, the theft is classiffied as a felony, confirmed Glaze.