Several years ago I had over $14,000 worth of dirt bikes, atv's and a 3day old new trailer stolen by some meth heads. Police did what they could but in the end I had to find them myself...and I did. They worked for Ringo drilling out of Tye. I went up there to beat some serious azz, unfortunately they were not there. With the exception of the office crew, the rest of the guys I saw, about 10 of them, were all tweekers. Skinny as a toothpick, rotted teeth, the whole shabang.
My biggest mistake was telling the police...because then, nothing got done. The 3 guys got a slap on the wrist, served no jail time, were not made to pay restitution, and were only charged with misdemeanor theft. Whoopty-doo, big freaking deal! I'll never go to the police for something like that again. If I find them first again, they're butts are mine...and I don't give slaps on the wrist!
Point being...with the massive increase in oil activity, I would expect this to happen more often out here in west and northwest Texas. Most oil companies are NOT like this, but there are a few of the smaller drillers
and support companies that will hire anyone with a heartbeat. If you have a drilling rig within 10 miles of your lease, I would set up a game cam or two in areas that could overlook your camp to take pics of thieves and druggies. Ringo drilling is not indicative of most oil related businesses, but there are still quite a few out there just like them who have meth users on their payroll and don't care.
And yes, I did get 14K worth of satisfaction out of it, but that's a different story.........
I think I'd like to hear the rest of this story.
Me too
Hello Americans, I'm not Paul Harvey, but this...is The Rest of The Story.....
The guy who snitched them out and took part of the reward was a lifelong friend of the thieves, and a fellow meth head. He told me their names, took me to show me their houses and told me that they all work at Ringo Drilling together. He informed me that the main player also dealt drugs on the rigs and other sites he visited in the course of his job. His supplier was, none other than, the most feared Mexican gang in the U.S.
He had a shed in the back yard that looked like an outhouse. While out of town in Snyder for his 3day on-2day off shift, his supplier would drop off a fresh supply of meth and pot, and at the same time, pick up the cash from the previous weeks sales. They never physically saw each other during the course of the transactions. Since I had already turned the case over to DA, anything that happened to him would put me in the spotlight as a prime suspect, so I thought outside the box.........and then it hit me! What is the worst thing you could do to a druggie, and what is the worst thing that you could do to a drug dealer? Of course...you deprive him of what he loves most...his dope! And to sweeten the pot, this guy was beholden to the "Mexicans" for over $10,000 worth of drugs and cash.
So I made up a flyer with a scaled diagram of his property, his house and his shed. I wrote on the flyer in detail how much and what types of drugs he had in his shed, along with the cash that was usually kept in there. I told them which toolbox to look in, and where it was usually kept in the shed. Once I had done that, I made up 100 copies and placed them in bathrooms of the worst/roughest bars in Abilene...you know, the ones where no one speaks English and everyone is a member of a gang. After that I just waited. A few days later when he got back in town, he called me accusing me of stealing his "stuff". I laughed in his ear, called him a few choice names and hung up on him. That was the last anyone heard from him. The ADA, his probation officer, and the local street beaters had not seen hide nor hair of him since. I know he didn't skip town because his car and house were left untouched, and his wife called the probation officer looking for him, thinking he may have been picked up and jailed. My guess is that the "Mexicans" took care of him for losing $10,000 of their drugs and cash. I don't know what happened to him, and I do not want to know what happened to him.
My Dad always told me that if I work smart, I won't have to work as hard. I'll be damned if he wasn't right! All it cost me was the toner for 100 copies, $5 in gas and about 1.5hrs of my time.
...and now you know...The Rest Of The Story.....
