Three Trucks, a Camper Trailer, and two Generators recovered in Theft Investigation
02/22/2023
On February 10, 2023 the Logan County Sheriff's Office was contacted by Booneville Police Department Lt. Kody Smith regarding a Honda generator that was reported stolen in Booneville. The owner of the generator found the generator on Facebook for sale for $1,600.00. The woman who had it listed lives in the Paris area so Lt. Smith arranged a sale of the generator through Facebook. When the woman arrived at the Casey's gas station in Paris, Logan County Sheriff's Office Investigators Howard Bates and Al Brown stopped her vehicle and recovered the generator. The woman, Laurenn Lindsay (also known as Laurenn McPherson), 42, of Paris, was arrested. The investigators also found drug paraphernalia in her vehicle. Her husband, Mark McPherson, 30, of Paris, is a suspect for theft but he was not present. The truck and trailer used by Laurenn were towed and the generator and drug paraphernalia were seized.
Through information obtained after this arrest, our investigators and Lt. Kieth Lunsford, along with officers from the Paris Police Department and I (Sheriff Massey), went to several locations in Paris and recovered stolen property. At one residence, we found truck boxes that had been removed from a stolen green Ford F-150 pick-up truck we recovered a few days earlier off Short Mountain Road northwest of Paris. That truck was stolen from Fort Smith. We also found an engine and transmission that had been cut from a gray Chevrolet Silverado Z71 that was stolen from Dardanelle. The truck boxes and engine and transmission were seized.
We went to another residence and found the stolen gray Chevrolet Silverado upside down and torn to pieces. We also found a white Ford F-250 pick-up truck that was also stolen from Fort Smith. Our investigators obtained a search warrant for the residence and shop. We found a rental car from El Paso, Texas that we believe was used in some of the thefts. Both Laurenn Lindsay and Mark McPherson were living in San Antonio, Texas prior to coming to Paris recently. We found drug paraphernalia in the rental car. The trucks, rental car, and drug paraphernalia were seized.
Next, we went to a residence on Crescent Drive in Paris where Mark McPherson lives. We received information that he and Lindsay were living in a camper trailer behind the residence. After investigating the Wildwood camper trailer and a generator, we found that both had been stolen from Dardanelle. The Paris Police Department obtained a search warrant for the camper trailer but Mark was not present. They seized the camper and generator.
We were unable to locate Mark McPherson and we believe he fled to San Antonio. Today, we were notified that Mark has been arrested by the San Antonio Police Department and is being held there on multiple felony charges that occurred in Texas and he has a $2.2 million dollar bond. We are not sure yet what his Texas charges are yet but we will place a hold on him for our charges once our warrant for him comes out.
His wife, Laurenn Lindsay, will face multiple theft charges along with the drug paraphernalia charge.
The next day, we arrested Clayton Joe Rice, 37, of Paris, in Dardanelle and he is suspected of being an accomplice with Mark in the thefts and we anticipate that he will be charged with multiple theft charges.
The investigation is continuing and others are involved and we anticipate more people will be arrested in this case.
We thank the Booneville and Paris Police Departments for their work on this case and this is a great example of our agencies working together.