Knox County Man Sentenced And Ordered To Pay More Than $800,000 Restitution For Transporting Stolen Property Across State Lines

Cape Girardeau, MO - The United States Attorney's Office announced today that a Knox County, Missouri, man was sentenced to federal prison for three charges involving transporting stolen goods.

CHARLES WILLIAM TAGUE of Hurdland, Missouri, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment on one felony count of conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines and two felony counts of interstate transportation of stolen goods. He was also ordered to pay a total of $801,928.07 restitution.  Upon completion of the prison sentence, he will be placed on federal supervised release for a period of three years.  Tague appeared before U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, in Cape Girardeau.

Previously with his plea, Tague admitted that on April 26, 2010, Roger L. Smith, the owner of Yield Plus, Inc., a plant food company in Scott City, Missouri, realized that someone had stolen over 8,000 gallons of liquid plant food from his business over the weekend.  Smith contacted the Scott County Sheriff’s Department and an investigation was initiated.

Yield Plus, Inc., is a company that makes liquid plant food that is shipped in interstate commerce to many different states.  The investigation revealed that the plant manager, John A. Greenlee, was filling tanker trucks owned by Tague at night and on weekends in exchange for money.  Tague, who owned a trucking company, would in turn sell the stolen liquid plant food to mostly out-of-state customers.  Tague collected a total of nearly $802,000 from those customers for the stolen liquid plant food and paid Greenlee roughly $14,000. 

Greenlee was previously sentenced to a term of 27 months imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $283,672.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are commended for their efforts to prosecute this case.  Assistant United States Attorneys Abbie Crites-Leoni and Morley Swingle handled the prosecution for the Government.