Men Arrested on Charges of Conspiracy to Commit Interstate Theft
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 06, 2012 |
OXFORD, MS—Felicia C. Adams, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, and Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jackson Division, announce that:
Curtis Tigues, 29, of Inverness, Mississippi, and Ernest Calvin, 31, of Belzoni, Mississippi, were arrested today on charges of conspiracy to commit interstate theft. Each man is charged in a one count indictment alleging conspiracy to possess, sell, and dispose of copper metal stolen in Mississippi and then sold in Arkansas. Both appeared in U.S. District Court on the charges and were released on bond pending trial.
The arrests are a result of a joint investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Leflore County Sheriff’s Office, Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office, and Sunflower County Sheriff’s Office into the theft of copper metal from irrigation systems on farms located in the Mississippi Delta. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Chad Doleac and John Marshall Alexander.
If convicted the men face maximum possible penalties of five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years’ supervised release.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the United States has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.