Police on Tuesday arrested and charged Dustin Lee Howell, 34, and Wesley Dean Roosa, 34, both of Ravenna, Ohio, with first-degree theft. Their alleged roommate, Jennifer Grace Perkins, 34, of Anniston was also arrested and charged with filing a false report after telling police her truck — a blue Chevy found on U.S. 78 with metal beams in the bed — was stolen from her residence.
Oxford Lt. L.G. Owens said police investigated an unoccupied but still-running vehicle near Seal’s Welding and Fabricating Company around 8 p.m. Sunday. The owner of the scrap metal company said metal beams totaling $2,000 found in the vehicle were stolen from his shop.
Owens said a few hours later Perkins called to tell police her truck had been stolen, but said her two roommates, “Dusty and Wes,” were not involved and had never used her truck before. Perkins said she did not know her roommates’ last names, Owens said, and they had only lived with her a few weeks.
Owens said on Monday, Oxford Machine and Fab on Sherman Drive reported $11,000 in missing steel rollers taken sometime over the weekend. Video surveillance footage from the shop showed the blue Chevy truck Perkins reported as missing and two men loading the steel rollers in the back.
The rollers were recovered Tuesday at Brannon Recycling in Anniston.
Howell and Roosa were being held Wednesday in Oxford’s jail awaiting transportation to the Calhoun County Jail. No bail had been set.
Perkins was released on $1,000 bond. She is set to go to trial April 24.
Staff Writer Brian Anderson: 256-235-3546. On Twitter @BAnderson_Star.
