KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., truck driver was sentenced in federal court today 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, 43, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to 21 years and10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Borders to pay $1,270,089 in restitution to 27 victims. Borders’ sentence takes into account his previous criminal history of theft of a truck, trailer and cargo in this district and the District of Nebraska. 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, 2014, 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, 56, of Raytown, Mo., and his son, Kyle Wayne Dickerson, 32, of Holden, Mo., were also convicted for their roles in the conspiracy and await sentencing. 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.

In addition to the conspiracy, Borders was 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 such cargo as 39,000 pounds of meat, 565 boxes of beef valued at $149,790, $125,000 worth of frozen ribs, and several refrigerated trailers that each contained tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of frozen chicken, including a load of frozen chicken wings valued at $59,706. Also stolen were utility trailers containing such cargo as Budweiser beer valued at $16,657, Nike shoes valued at $217,353 and 21,018 pounds of Little Sizzler sausages.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen cargo was sold cheaply to anyone who would buy it. Some of the cargo was sold out of the back of the trailer; some of it was sold to a tow truck driver or a convenience store operator to resell. For example, co-defendant Myron Piggie, 53, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to possessing stolen property. Piggie admitted that he accepted 12 pallets of stolen Budweiser beer products (valued at approximately $7,566). Piggie agreed to sell the beer at his store, MP Convenience Store in Kansas City, and split the profits with conspirators. Piggie, however, learned that the police were aware he had the stolen beer, so he gave it all away, selling little or none of it, because he did not want to be found to be in possession of the stolen beer. Several additional co-defendants have pleaded guilty in this case and in related cases.

Borders was 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. Borders 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. In fact, 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. They used them in their own trucking business, sometimes just for replacement parts with the remains sold for scrap. Kyle Dickerson had the tools, ability, and willingness to disguise the stolen nature of the trucks and trailers by altering their Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) so that they could be used in their trucking business without alerting authorities when they were stopped or inspected.

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.

This case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Gregg R. Coonrod and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cindi S. Woolery. It was investigated by the Department of Agriculture—Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the National White Collar Crime Center, the Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center, Travelers Investigative Services, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Florida State Highway Patrol, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.