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Saturday, April 26, 1997

Truck carrying training missiles found in Texas

By ROBERT G. WIELAND Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP) - A tractor trailer that vanished while carrying four dummy Air Force missiles to New Mexico was found today, and the truck driver was arrested more than 300 miles away, the FBI said.

FBI special agent Darren Holmes in San Antonio told KSAT television that the driver was arrested in Orange and would be charged with theft of an interstate shipment and theft of government property. He gave no details, but authorities said earlier that they were seeking an Ohio man.

Air Force Maj. Laura Feldman at the Pentagon said the truck and its cargo, missing since Thursday, were recovered in Ranger, 110 miles west of Dallas, or more than 300 miles away from Orange, which is near the Louisiana line.

First reports from officials at Ranger indicated that the crates containing the four dummy missiles were secure, said another Air Force spokesman, Maj. Rob Koon.

"We believe the crates are still sealed and intact," Koon said.

The truck began its journey in Georgia and was last seen heading in the wrong direction about 500 miles from its destination. It carried a tracking beacon and was being monitored by satellite until it vanished from computer screens Thursday, authorities said.

It was carrying "training missiles that weren't equipped with any type of operational warheads or explosives, so they shouldn't pose a risk to the public," said Master Sgt. Carol Griffith, a spokeswoman for Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, N.M.

The missiles were picked up at a Boeing plant by an Air Force contractor and were supposed to be taken to Cannon, Boeing spokesman Bob Algarotti said. He declined to say when the flatbed truck left the plant in Duluth, Ga., or who was driving.

The training missiles were going to be used in air defense exercises involving 20,000 military personnel, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Gayle Ornong.

The FBI issued a detention alert for Ronald D. Coy, 42, of Middletown, Ohio, FBI spokesman Rolando Moss in Houston confirmed today. Coy was believed to be driving a black 1991 Kenworth with mauve and green pinstripes and the name "Miss Honey Jean" on the bug shield, Moss said.

Coy has not been charged with any crime, Moss said.

Coy used to work for SOS Transport, Inc., in Monroe, Ohio, said David Callahan, its director of operations. He said the company had had no contact with Coy since January and had nothing to do with the missing shipment.

The truck had Ohio license plates and was last seen heading south on Interstate 45 near Fairfield, about 80 miles south of Dallas, said Mike Cox, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin. The route did not include I-45.

The truck was carrying unarmed training devices that look like TGM-130 guided missiles, said Army Lt. Col. George Lennon, a Pentagon spokesman. The dummies are strapped onto planes and cannot be dropped.

The devices, each worth about $150,000, carry infrared and laser guidance equipment allowing pilots to fly attack patterns and get computerized data from the weapons system, Lennon said.

Standard military practice is to place tracking equipment on trucks carrying munitions, weapons, and other sensitive equipment. When a vehicle has disappeared for four hours, trackers call state police for assistance.

Another truck, this one carrying machine guns and mortars to Camp Pendleton, Calif., was reported missing in central Texas on Thursday but turned up hours later after the driver's company credit card was rejected at an El Paso truck stop. The company had canceled the card in hopes that the driver would call.

The Pentagon said the rig's tracking beacon had merely failed, and the driver didn't know he was being sought.Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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