Update: 2 arrested, 3 more arrests pending. These people are like leaves in the wind, living in methed up campers on the back 40 of cousin Jimmy's neighbor and when the law comes sniffing around they move to uncle Bob's friend's hunting property in the middle of the night...

Methany's house went into foreclosure. She burned it down (insurance fraud) the same day the arrest warrants were issued. Local law enforcement let her get transported to the hospital and then be released later that night without arresting her (they were mare aware of the warrant by the CO working the case). She hasn't been seen since...


Just venting, I already have a trooper friend on the drug enforcement team working the issue, but it still frustrates me.

She came 2 days after Christmas, acting really suspicious. I have no doubts that she would have stolen from me if I wasn't here. Knowing more details now, I'm pretty sure she was after the Caterpillar backhoe and she was probably just going to see if the keys were in it (bc it was broad daylight when she came). She asked me if I would rent her some logging equipment, I politely declined. Then she asked if I had seen her missing dog (I hope it's gone, it's been terrorizing the neighborhood for months). Then she left.

This week I find out she has stolen from at least 3 neighbors and her boyfriend was arrested Christmas day for stealing a logskidder. The idiot stole it and drove it to her house presumably in the middle of the night. The neighbor 2 properties over caught her in my next door neighbor's woods at 11 pm the other night with flashlights. The neighbor's cousin said she showed up at his place a week ago in the middle of the night in nothing but a t-shirt and panties and she was starting to turn blue. All of her weird behavior has been since boyfriend was arrested. I'm thinking his criminal activities funded their habit and with him in jail she got desperate and stupid and started stealing from neighbors.


This crap sucks, things were good "out here" for so long...

Sounds like situation was close to solving itself the other night, neighbor should have let her freeze to death.


Too bad she didnt find a trail of little bits of copper through the woods to an abandoned mine or quary.  

I think that occurred before the neighbors all put the pieces together on what is happening. The first known theft carried out by her was the morning after she nearly froze to death. She's lived in the neighborhood for 3 years with her boyfriend. Nobody in the neighborhood had anything stolen until he got locked up. I think he smart enough to know not to steal from his own neighbors, she is not apparently. And now that he's not feeding her addiction and she has to fend for herself the local thefts have just begun.




Funny you mention that. One neighbor told me, "out here, we don't call the cops for things like that, we just find a hole somewhere..."

I'm confident that with enough time the problem will work itself out. She's on the death spiral now. 3 years ago she was obese according to her Facebook (I looked her up to figure out boyfriend's name to look up his criminal history). When she came to my place she was quite thin. A few more years she will probably be a toothless shell if she hasn't already OD'd or something. I just wonder how much missing stuff I'll have to deal with before then...

GPS and kill switch your heavy machinery. The hoosiers around here that used to steal big equipment all had universal keys to them.

It's pretty well known in the heavy equipment industry that all Caterpillar equipment, no matter what it is, leaves the factory with the same key, EVERY SINGLE PIECE. If you pay extra the dealer will change the keys when it gets to them but most don't pay for that option. So if you have a factory Cat key you can start 95% of Cat equipment...

The parcel behind my house use to have a house on it. When they removed the house they dug up the septic tank and didn't bother filling in the hole.

I told my neighbors you never know when you will need a quick hole.

Agreed, I do not condone, nor would I harm her except for self defense. My neighbor OTOH, he's a different breed from me...

Thankfully the arctic blast seems to have kept her inside lately...

This is a tech forum.

Comments should have at least some value to add or bearing on the actual subject in the OP, and/or remain at least a smidge above the farting and grunting level.

~Kitties

Learned some new details about the neighbors Methew & Methany as we call them.

The power has been disconnected so they moved out during the arctic chill we had (I secretly hope their pipes broke), but they are back (still no power) since it's not terribly cold.

Methany had all of her kids taken away years ago.

Methew experienced a tragedy in his early years that has undoubtedly contributed to the mental issues that frequently lead to drug abuse & crime problems. His family had a house fire, mom could only save 2 of the 5 or 6 kids before the fire got too big, he was 1 of 2 that was saved, the rest perished. Truly sad, and makes me slightly more sympathetic but still won't tolerate the behavior.

The neighbor was able to confirm they are stealing sd cards out of his trail cams and driving vehicle onto his property through the creek bed. He's fuming.

Which county?

We have video of Methany, smoking her drug of choice, trespassing on the nextdoor neighbor's property. Ironically, she walks past the camera, triggering it, then turns around, facing almost straight into the camera, and walks away the way she came, which was further onto the neighbor's property. She must have come in a different way.

Today it was Methew, on camera, we knew he was still on the property. Conservation Officer is out for training this week so we called the Sheriff. Sheriff refused to do anything because it's part of a DNR investigation. So I guess we're at the mercy of the CO (really awesome guy, just a single guy and stretched thin).

Had them on camera again today stealing timber. Sheriff was called, they hid when the deputy arrived so he took down the plate and left. I watched him leave and they re-emerged and got in their truck to get out of dodge. Even after dispatch was informed that they were hiding right in front of the deputy the deputy refused to come back. SMH

When the county sheriff dropped the ball the CO stepped up. Both COs assigned to our county (along with most COs in the state) are out of state for training so its rookies and high level supervisors only this week. A rookie drove 2 hrs last night to meet up and discuss. She expressed her lack of experience with timber theft cases and we mutually agreed to wait until a more experienced officer could assist and so they could investigate in daylight vs night. She returned today with a CO well known for his experience and ability to resolve problems like this. After some investigation and interviews they have enough to arrest them but they couldn't locate all the suspects so they played it cool and will wait until all 3 are there. They didn't want the 3rd to flee or go into hiding.

Oh, ETA, it seems while Methew was locked up Methany found Methaniel and Methias to keep her company and Methew is now out of the picture.

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An air tag or lojack do wonders with equipment

Learned today that the one I've been calling Methias was sentenced to 35 years in prison for multiple violent felonies in 2008 but was let out 24 years early in 2019.

Wow! That was a thing back in the 1970s. Surprised it still is.

Top of state or bottom?

I'm down south and this surely sounds like a southern Indiana type of thing. When I worked at the Husqvarna dealership those types were regulars. Always wanting us to work on some piece of junk or another. Anything without a serial number was turned away and the boss kept a running list of stolen saw serials to verify if one brought in was hot or not.

As disconcerting as it is that the “Justice” system is a failure, it’s good you know what you are dealing with.  Take care sir.

Regarding the stolen timber:  Are they stealing firewood or logs going to the mill?

I've lost faith in our LEOs over this, Sheriff Dept was nearly useless. I had the guys right there hiding in the creek while on the phone with dispatch as a deputy walked up to their truck, chained to a $5k+ veneer grade walnut log. The deputy snapped pictures, then walked away. Begged dispatch to have the deputy look for the guys that I could see (I was overlooking from a hill) and the deputy closed the call out and refused to come back. I called the prosecutors office bc one guy has current pending cases against him and I thought maybe the fact that he's committing more crimes while out on bail would be of interest to them. They refused to talk to me and said I should call the Sheriff if a crime is being committed.



Southern...




Nobody steals firewood here, people beg you to come cut it. They're stealing high value stuff including large, veneer grade walnut logs. The forester was here today to measure stumpage so they know what level felony to charge them with. Rough estimate is almost $100k in damages but IN is 3X damages so actual value of stolen timber is probably about $33k. They probably got $5k out of it bc the buyer knew it was stolen. Apparently the property owner (Methany) spilled her guts when asked about it. She fessed up that she was struggling to make the mortgage payment (bc she has a habit) and had these guys (acquaintances) come in to log her property for a cut of the proceeds. When her property didn't yield enough to keep up on the mortgage they told her about the nice timber just across the property line and she told them it was ok to cut that too. All parties knew it was across the line. Methew was arrested for stealing a log skidder (so he could steal the logs) and yet nobody in local law enforcement gives a flying f**k about how its all interconnected. It's a whole ring of shady people (we're up to 4 involved males & 2 involved females) and the only people doing anything is the COs, but they can only do so much when the county isn't willing to help. But you can be sure the Sheriff will drop a press release about a "multi-agency investigation" when arrests do happen. He wants the fame but doesn't want to devote manpower to it.

Sounds about right. I know you'll never get made whole but I hope the thieves get theirs.

Sounds about right and the deputy is getting a cut of the action all because of the poor pay they receive. And people wonder why the defund lE movement is gaining traction. Yet God forbid that they steal from a judge or state employee or poach from a multi million dollar oil company. Search the internet for the BP buck. The Game department and three counties had a basic man hunt. You would have thought they killed a state senator… I feel your pain on this matter.

I am so sorry this is happening to you and your neighbors.  Thanks for filling in my blanks as to the context of the wood being referenced/stolen.  I’ve had the same frustrations with local LEO, essentially begging them to take down the dope house two doors down while his clientele steals about $10k worth of building materials from me over the YEARS.  But by god they are Johnny On The Spot if one of my vehicle registrations goes out while parked in front of my house.

That enrages me even more. I have someone I considered a FRIEND (albeit a distant friend, but close enough I have his personal cell number) that is a state trooper. I initially text him about the issue, he asked for names. I gave him names of Methany & Methew before realizing there were more people involved. Despite numerous attempts to contact him since then, even if it's just for advice or to get a little information, he has totally ghosted me. I can't figure out why. I'm baffled, angered, and now somewhat bitter about the way he's treated me.

I did forget an important piece of information about why the Sheriff's department wouldn't do much. They claim that they cannot get involved in a case that is being investigated be DNR law enforcement. I somewhat understand that, but when there is an active crime being committed you would think they would do a bit more than come take pictures.

I suspect the state police is very similar so I wasn't necessarily expecting them to cross "jurisdictional boundaries", but I would expect someone I know personally, someone I've had at my house several times before, would at least respond and say something like, "Hey, I have to be careful about jurisdiction so I can't actually respond out there unless requested, but I looked those people up, they are bad people, be careful, I'm going to see what we can do from our end, but just know that our power is limited here."

Am I wrong? Is something like that response too much to ask?

I have a few law enforcement friends like that (friend but not super close) i 100% think they would try to help out and not ghost like your guy did.  I would be upset as well in your situation

Good luck man, I hope this gets resolved sooner than later

Don’t worry he will be back with bells on when he needs you. My bet is Methany is connected by kinship to someone who is important and being protected.

It's really not with newer / new ish stuff. I couldn't think of anything we'd bought in the last 20 years that didn't have a keypad / digital key solution. Google fu says CAT started offering it in 2002 so that's about right.

But any 70's, 80's, 90's CAT whatever is going to start the same. Keys in those machines don't do much to stop theft unless you aren't capable of pulling the key cylinder out and touching the two wires connected to it.

I'd venture a guess 97% of the machines from that pre digital era just have a big old push button where the key used to be, at least any I've ever run.

Our 2007 Cat backhoe came with the standard Cat key of years past. Just because it's an option doesn't mean it's common.

Same for the guy that came to rebuild the dam on my pond a couple years ago. Fairly new Cat D7 Dozer. He said he leaves the keys in it bc anybody that wants to take it already has a key and that's why he pays for insurance...




I don't think these people are being protected per se, it's just that the wheels of justice turn slowly and bc it isn't a violent crime the motivation level is low.  I also noticed that they have abandoned the house, they haven't been there for weeks, and there is now a court notice on the door. So I doubt they will be a problem anymore.

I should also clarify that the theft wasn't from me, it was from my next door neighbor. She had attempted to steal from me but i caught her in the act. If you recall my neighbor I found deceased on his tractor 2 years ago. His son is purchasing the property from his step mom. Methany has admitted in an interview that she knew of his passing as was taking advantage of the situation to steal timber knowing the likelihood of getting caught was low. I hope the penalty is harsh, that's awful...and shows how these people truly think and act...

Unsure why I keep having to do this, but..

This is a tech forum.  Your post is inappropriate.

~Kitties

Update in OP, Methany burned her house down, Methew lived in the shed for a week or so "so the meth heads around here won't steal the scrap metal from the burned out house".  Methany hasn't been seen since the day of the fire when she walked out of the hospital...

what kind of house/structure was it?   Know how it burned down?

Modular home, she had mentioned to a neighbor that she didn't know what to do and she might just burn the house to collect the insurance money. They had a fight shortly before the fire. Firefighters could see gas cans inside the house when they arrived but the fire started on the other end of the house. She admitted to "burning things she shouldn't have been burning in the fireplace" but didn't elaborate. A neighbor saw the fire early on and she was standing outside, wouldn't look at, acknowledge, or talk to him when he aaked if she was OK. He went to get his cousin next door, was gone for only a couple minutes and when he returned she had moved her car, broke all the windows out (staging it to look like something else occurred) and she had changed her clothes and was hiding in the woods.

Additionally, Methew had left after the fight, walking/hitch-hiking with the dogs on leashes. He has hitch-hiked before but not taking the dogs with him, and when he does he walks along the road. But this time he cut across the neighbor's & my property so he wouldn't be seen leaving with the dogs. He didn't emerge from his secluded route until he was almost 2 miles from the house. The way he left (taking the dogs & leading a secluded path) is very suspicious. The timing didn't indicate he played a role in starting the fire but it sure leads me to believe it was planned and he knew it would be happening.




I have a great relationship with my insurance agent so I asked him if he thought she would get fried on insurance fraud. He said proving fraud is really hard but bc the house is in foreclosure she likely doesn't have a claim. He said in every agency he has worked for, as soon as a home goes into foreclosure risk of these things skyrockets. Almost in unison the insurance provider will cancel the policy and the lender will cancel it and take out a policy in their name only, and only large enough to protect their interests. So on the day of the fire, she likely had no claim to any insurance payout. These people live these types of lives because they have mental issues, make bad decisions, and think really illogically. This case proves it. They admitted to police that they were stealing the timber knowingly. How dumb can people be?

@SigOwner_P229

get ready to buy that property

Funny you mention the shed. Apparently prior to the fire they had moved a lot of stuff into the shed when it had previously been completely empty. And a couple months prior they had sold the shed to a guy, he had already paid for it and just hadn't picked it up yet. When he found out about the fire and them living in the shed he prioritized picking up the shed. He tied the dogs to the tree, threw all their stuff out in the driveway, and took the shed. Haha...problem is likely to stay solved at this point. Another neighbor has his eyes on the property and I'm not going to stand in his way. If he buys it it will be in good hands and kept clean and free of meth heads.