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Press Release

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Two Men in Connection with Fort Campbell Auto Thefts

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Kentucky

Paducah, KY – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today, charging Daniel Lee Clark with multiple counts of larceny of vehicles taken from Fort Campbell in April and May of 2022.  Joseph Pewitt was also charged with creating false documents and making false statements to the FBI.

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Office, and Chief Keith Shumate of the Fort Campbell Provost Marshal’s Office made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Clark, age 20, was a civilian living at the Fort Campbell Army Installation. Claiming to work for Fort Campbell’s housing authority and claiming that his job was to dispose of vehicles, Clark sold over 20 vehicles to the Guthrie Scrap Yard. These vehicles were parked at Fort Campbell and had been stickered by Fort Campbell police as being subject to impound. Most of the vehicles Clark sold were towed and crushed by the scrap yard. Clark did not work for the housing authority, and he had no authorization from the vehicles’ owners or from Fort Campbell to sell the vehicles.  

Pewitt, age 57, the owner of Guthrie Scrap Yard, was told by one of his tow truck drivers that the military was investigating stolen vehicles. Pewitt instructed an employee to fabricate invoices regarding his purchases of vehicles from Clark, and he provided those to military investigators.  During an interview with the FBI, Pewitt made materially false statements regarding the fabricated invoices.

Clark and Pewitt will make their initial court appearances on a later date before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in the Paducah Division. If convicted, Clark faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and Pewitt faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Campbell Provost Marshal’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond McGee, of the U.S. Attorney’s Paducah Branch Office, is prosecuting this case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Updated February 14, 2023