CLAY CO.— A Louisville man who was convicted of Burglary in Saline County as a teen is now facing charges back in his home county of Clay of Conspiracy to Commit Theft.
Clay County authorities allege that on or about December 14, 2014 at approximately 1:23 p.m. at 130 East Southeast St., Xenia, Jedidiah N. Oliver, now 20, of the 600 block of Johnson St., Louisville, conspired with Caleb W. Smith, 20, of the 300 block of Austin Ave., Flora and Bailey Lee Bray, 19, of the 400 block of East Drive, Flora, conspired to steal a 2003 four-wheeler Honda belonging to Donald Brown, valued in excess of $500.
Police say the trio traveled to Brown’s property with a trailer in order to load the four-wheeler.
Smith is accused of acting as lookout for the group.
Oliver is accused of dragging the ATV off the property and onto a nearby road to be loaded on said trailer.
Other than her physical presence, Bray’s exact part in the crime is unclear.
At the time of his arrest, Oliver was serving a 36-month probation sentence out of Saline County, after he was convicted in a series of burglaries in Eldorado, which included forced entry into Country Companies and ROC One Stop.
Oliver still owes more than $3,000 in fines and fees to Saline County from that conviction.
Cash bond in Oliver’s most recent case Clay County has been set at $3,000.
Smith had been sentenced to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on March 19, 2014, on an Unlawful Use of Vehicle to Produce Methamphetamine charge; however, with 214 days spent in the county jail, it appears prison math put him back out on the street just in time to be part of the failed burglary ring.
At the time of his arrest, Smith was facing a Nov. 4, 2014 charge of Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
Smith’s cash bond has also been set at $3,000.
In addition to already serving a June 16, 2014 one-year sentence of court supervision for a Theft conviction in Clay County, Bray has yet another pending case in Clay, from December 12, 2014, in which she’s charged with Theft after authorities say she took property belonging to Natalie Lewis identified as a Samsung Galaxy Young II Duos cellular phone, a ladies’ wedding ring set and a SIM card.
All things being equal, it appears the would-be crims are headed to prison, but for how long is anybody’s guess.