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Sunday, April 27, 1997

Truck driver charged with wire fraud

By TERRI LANGFORD

Associated Press Writer

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) - An Ohio truck driver, turned desperate by heavy debt, dumped a $1 million missile shipment in Texas after his company refused to advance him $500, the FBI suggested in documents released Saturday.

Ronald Dean Coy, 42, was arrested without incident Friday in Orange, near the Louisiana line, several hours after four dummy Air Force warheads were found 300 miles away in Ranger.

At a hearing Saturday, Coy shook his head in apparent disbelief when U.S. Magistrate Wendell Radford informed him he was charged with wire fraud.

As a formality, Radford asked Coy if he wanted his extradition hearing held Saturday or rescheduled until next week when he could be provided a court-appointed attorney.

"I have nothing to hide. Let's go forward," Coy said.

But Radford denied the request and set the extradition hearing for Tuesday morning.

Coy, who said he had only $137.44 to his name, was ordered held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

According to a criminal complaint used to detain him, Coy - who is $115,000 in debt - had tried conning one trucking company, then another, out of cash advances and then ignored shipment requests.

The wire fraud charge stems with those dealings, and has nothing to do with the armaments, which the Air Force said lacked explosives and posed no risk to the public. The devices are worth $115,000 each, but - with packaging - have an overall value of $1 million, the affidavit said.

"We have no indication that he was part of any conspiracy," said U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford.

Although the criminal complaint indicates he also may face embezzlement and theft charges in Georgia, prosecutors told Radford they had probable cause to hold Coy only on the wire fraud charge.

The missile saga began April 14, when Colorado-based Cheetah Trucking Co. gave Coy $500 in expense money and sent him to pick up the armaments at a Boeing plant in Duluth, Ga.

The cargo was scheduled to be delivered four days later, to Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico.

But on April 18, Coy was nowhere near there, triggering the weeklong chain of events that were finally laid out Saturday.

According to an affidavit:

- That day, Coy called Cheetah from a restaurant in Conley, Ga., and said his rig had broken down in Abilene, Texas. He promised to make the delivery if sent $750 for the repairs. Cheetah approved the request.

- On Monday, Coy contacted Cheetah several times from Rayville, La. seeking another $500 advance. This time, the company refused.

- On Wednesday, Coy arranged to make a pickup in Fairfield, Texas, for a company in Weatherford, Texas.

- On Thursday, he received a $500 advance from the firm, but didn't make the pickup. Also, Coy offered to pay $150 for a building supply company in Ranger, Texas, to store his missile cargo.

- On Friday, Coy called Cheetah and told them the cargo containing the missile shipment was in Ranger.

U.S. Attorney Bradford declined to comment on whether Coy actually knew, perhaps through the shipment's inventory paperwork, he was carrying four unarmed missiles.

Authorities initially said the vehicle had a tracking beacon and was being monitored by satellite until it vanished from computer screens Thursday.

FBI agent Robert Loosle said the truck had no tracking system. The search instead was triggered after the cargo was late to New Mexico.

Standard military practice is to place tracking equipment on trucks carrying weapons and other sensitive equipment. Once a vehicle has been missing for four hours, trackers call state police.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike Cox said his agency learned Thursday afternoon the FBI was searching for a tractor-trailer carrying four unarmed missiles.

The shipment - in containers marked "transformer" - was discovered Friday at the lumber yard in Ranger. Several hours later, FBI agents found Coy sleeping in his rig at the Flying J Truck Stop in Orange, about 30 miles east of Beaumont.

Defense department spokesman Michael Byers said the military wasn't concerned about the shipment not arriving on time in New Mexico.

"Things get lost," he said. "It's not like it's a danger, the warheads weren't real warheads."

The arrest of Coy was news for his wife, Barbara Coy of Middletown, Ohio. She told the Middletown Journal she filed a missing persons report on him Jan. 11.

In the report, Mrs. Coy said her husband took $17,000 in cash advances from a credit card account during a short period of time.

"He left me with $230 in the bank ... I had to take a second job to pay my rent," Mrs. Coy said. "He financially ruined me."

Mrs. Coy said she filed the report nine days after he left town and six days after he left a message on their answering machine that said, "In case you were wondering, I really do love you, but I am in over my head." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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