Curtis Staton
WHITE CO. – A Crossville man is accused of possessing stolen items, but it remains unclear whether he really knew they were stolen, or if he was just skittish over the entire thing.
Whatever the case, Curtis Staton, 36, of rural Crossville, is the man accused of possessing items that were reported stolen, on April 18, by County resident Tim Scates.
Scates had gone to the White County Sheriff’s Department on that date to advise that the theft of a Nelson Big Gun irrigation hand sprayer SR150 from the Susan Wenzel farm. The sprayer was estimated to have a value of $2,600, and had been sitting by an irrigation system on the Wenzel farm (why Scates was the one reporting a Wenzel theft is unclear at this juncture.)
Regardless, Scates advised that he’d observed the hand sprayer believed to be his up for sale on eBay…and he had the documentation of the “for sale” item. The material – printouts of the e-Bay offerings – showed that the item was being sold out of Carmi, and it had an asking price of only $800.
White County Sheriff’s Deputy, Sgt. Craig Poole, contacted eBay in an attempt to locate the seller’s identity, but they didn’t have it immediately available and took information to call him back; the seller info wasn’t posted, and it could only be determined that the seller was using something called “Blitz Retail” with the user ID name of “Blitz My Wallet.” The company was able to advise, however, that it was a new eBay account just opened within the last week.
The sting
Sheriff Doug Maier spoke with someone he knew who had a current eBay account who was willing to send the person attempting to sell the sprayer a message, asking to view the item in person. It was agreed to do so, and this individual sent the mysterious seller a message.
The seller advised he or she could not show the item on that day, but would be able to show it possibly at 5 p.m. on the 19th, with further info to be provided.
On that day, at approximately 4:45 p.m., Officer George Spencer, Carmi Police Sgt. Dustin Buttry, Carmi Police Officer Donna Huber, White County Corrections Officer Cody Jacobs and Maier took part in a detail in an attempt to recover a number of items which had been reported stolen in White County (along with the sprayer).
Maier noted that the meeting would take place at approximately 5 p.m. on the CVS parking lot in Carmi, and advised that CO Jacobs was going to drive an unmarked patrol vehicle to the lot and attempt to make contact with the seller, who had stated he would be driving a black Ford F150 pickup. Maier and Spencer took up an overwatch position in Maier’s patrol vehicle in the Carmi Motel/coffee shop parking lot, across the street and northeast of the CVS lot.
Upon arrival, Spencer and Maier observed a black Ford F150 parked on the west side of the CVS lot; they then observed Jacobs pull into the parking lot in an unmarked white Dodge Ram pickup. This was the vehicle that the seller had been told the “buyer” would be driving.
However, immediately upon Jacobs entering the lot, the black Ford pickup exited the lot and drove north on April Avenue.
The Ford then traveled west on Main Street.
Approximately five to ten minutes later, Spencer and Maier observed the same pickup traveling east on Main Street. The vehicle passed the CVS lot and continued out of line of sight of the officers.
Maier advised Sgt. Buttry of the vehicle’s description and direction of travel. A short time later, Buttry performed a traffic stop on the vehicle for an expired registration on the Huck’s Convenience Store parking lot at 1107 W. Oak Street. Maier, Spencer and Huber responded to this location, as Buttry advised he believed the stolen item was in the bed of the pickup.
Stolen item located
Upon arrival at Huck’s Maier and Spencer approached the vehicle. Officers identified the subject at Curtis A. Staton, 36. Staton stated he was the one attempting to sell the item on eBay, but, he said, he wasn’t the one who had stolen it.
Officers identified the item in the bed of the pickup as a Big Gun nozzle, so Maier requested Staton accompany officers to the sheriff’s department to speak about the matter, with Staton agreeing to do so.
Once there, Maier advised Staton of his rights and Staton signed the waiver of rights form, agreeing to speak with officers.
He said that his uncle, Tony W. Staton, 52, had told him about a subject in Geff (in neighboring Wayne County, to the north of White) who was interested in trading a 1998 Dodge Ram pickup for a 4-wheeler Curtis Staton had in his possession. Curtis Staton said the person in Geff was named Andy, but he didn’t know Andy’s last name; Andy was a friend of Tony Staton. He did note that there had been no titles exchanged at the time of the trade. He also stated the pickup didn’t have any registration plates on it.
Curtis Staton said that he, Tony Staton, Tony’s girlfriend, and Curtis’ son went to Geff to trade the vehicles. When they arrived at Geff, he observed the bed of the Dodge pickup was full of items. Andy Staton told Curtis Staton he could do what he wanted with the items in the Dodge. So, Curtis stated, after getting the truck back to Mill Shoals, he took a number of items in the Dodge to the dump. He noted that it was at this time he observed the nozzle and a few other items that he believed might have been valuable, and that these items had been near the tailgate of the Dodge, but they’d had other items on top of them so he couldn’t see them until he began emptying the truck.
Curtis Staton kept these items, and later conducted a Google search to discover their value. The next day, he listed the items on eBay for sale.
He said he’d created a new seller’s account on eBay because he owed money to eBay for not paying seller’s fees on previously sold items, thus the reason why the new seller’s account was under the name “Retail Blitz” and “blitzmywallet.” He’d also opened a PayPal account and provided his bank information, which he believed was at Citizens Bank in Crossville.
‘Freaking out a little’
Staton stated he believed the items might have been stolen due to the circumstances involved with his obtaining them, but he didn’t know what to do with the items, and he stated he didn’t know he could have just brought them to the sheriff’s department to explain where they came from. He said he’d seen the white Dodge Ram pull into the CVS lot at the specified time, but at that point he’d started “freaking out a little” because he was afraid of what might happen if he met with the driver of the Dodge. So he drove away from CVS and was in the process of pulling into Huck’s to get fuel when Buttry stopped him. He also advised that he’d not intended on going back to CVS after getting fuel.
Following his statement, officers responded to Staton’s residence at the 1300 block of County Road 1450E, Carmi, in order to retrieve other items he’d listed on eBay. At the residence they recovered the Big Gun nozzle, a Thermo Electorn Corporation Polysonics SX Dedicated Doppler Flowmeter, and Thermo Electron Corporation Micro-Tech 2000 Conveyor Belt Scale System. The numbers on the end of the box that had contained the Big Gun nozzle matched the numbers provided to Maier by Scates, the numbers being from the order information sheet provided by Scates. All items were taken back to the sheriff’s department.
While officers were out at the Staton residence, Maier had spoken with Tony Staton, and Tony had no knowledge of any of the details that his nephew had provided. Maier had also spoken with White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud, who had advised Maier to charge Staton with Possession of Stolen Property.
Staton was advised of this, taken into custody and booked.
Background may have been what got him
Staton may or may not have been believable in his take, but the problem comes in with his history.
In White County, he’s a convicted felon for two counts of Burglary along with a misdemeanor pot conviction, all this in 2004.
Prior to that, Staton was convicted of two separate counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance, one in 2000 and one in 2002; and he also has three underage liquor convictions from the late 90s.
So while a person can change his habits and behavior, the law’s view of such things doesn’t change, and that was to Staton’s detriment. As of press time (April 23, 2017), he remained lodged in the White County Jail, scheduled for a prelim on May 8, and apparently unable to make the $2,500 cash bond needed to secure his release.
Updates will be made available at the website, www.disclosurenewsonline.com