Man arrested after selling stolen tractor on e-Bay

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[An Eldorado man is in custody after having stolen a tractor from Jeadon Trucking in the Saline County Industrial Park in Raleigh.

Christopher Shawn Cox, 35, 17 Wise St., Eldorado, turned himself in to authorities Sunday on a Saline County warrant charging him with burglary and theft over $300. He posted $2,000 cash bond and was released.

Deputies arrested him Wednesday on a warrant from Daviess County, Ky., charging him with theft by deception of property valued at $300 or more. He is held on $25,000 bond at the Saline County Detention Center.

Cox did some painting and other odd jobs for the trucking company, Saline County Sheriff's Investigator Mike Jones said. Owner Don Pritchett reported the tractor missing Oct. 19 and said it was taken between Oct. 11 and Oct. 14, according to Jones.

Deputy Danny Dooley found the tractor on the Internet auction site e-Bay, a routine website deputies visit to check for stolen items. Jones spoke to e-Bay administrators reporting the item was believed to be stolen and they provided Cox's name as the seller, Jones said.

By this time the tractor had already been sold for $3,500 and delivered to a man in Maceo, Ky.

Pritchett traveled to Maceo, Ky., to examine the truck and identified it as his by the painting he had done on it himself, Jones said.

Jones said Cox has admitted to stealing the tractor. The man in Maceo, Ky., pressed charges of theft by deception of property valued at $300 or more in an effort to get his $3,500 back.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.