A boyfriend-girlfriend team is behind bars accused with breaking into a Lonoke County fish farm. Deputies are still looking for two accomplices. Authorities think the suspected planned to turn equipment worth thousands of dollars into scrap metal.
Thousands of dollars worth of equipment were stolen from the Ralph Anderson Fish Farm in Carlisle.
"They were in there several hours," said Ralph Anderson.
"They may have thought it was abandoned, they went in and helped themselves," said Chief Deputy Dean White.
Deputies say they caught Stewart Brannan and girlfriend, Megon Manuel, with a trailer full of Ralph Anderson's equipment. They are now charged with theft of property and commercial burglary.
"We had deputies converge and catch up with them, we finally got the truck and trailer stopped, which had a full load of Mr. Anderson's property," said White.
"We didn't need this, it happens to people everyday, but with good help from police and neighbors, they spotted it, and called me," said Ralph Anderson.
Deputies say the thieves were on their way to a scrap metal yard. The equipment is worth about $10-$15,000 at the farm. If they were to sell this at the scrap metal yard, they would get about $200.
"One piece cost him about $800. They would have gotten less than a buck for it in scrap," said White.
With the payoff so low Ralph doesn't understand the crime, but he's thankful to have his equipment back. Wednesday, deputies recovered another trailer full of Anderson's property in Prairie County. That's where the other two accomplices are believed to be hiding. Because of this Anderson is beefing up security at his fish farm.
