<font color="red">CAUGHT: </FONT>Men arrested for stealing truck, tractor

With the help of the Weatherford police department, Mineral Wells police officers arrested two men Tuesday for allegedly stealing a truck Monday night or Tuesday morning and stealing a tractor Saturday night, reportedly damaging both vehicles.

Mineral Wells police said the stolen truck, reported stolen at 7 a.m. Tuesday from a factory in the 300 block of N.W. 7th Street, was recovered by law enforcement at a rest home in Weatherford later Tuesday morning after they ran the license plate and it returned as stolen.

Detectives from the Mineral Wells police department went to the scene to get fingerprints and process it around 10 a.m., according to police.

Around 11:30 a.m., they arrested Shawn Steven Goodrum, 18, of Palo Pinto, who was at the home to visit his mother, police said.

Some of the employees noticed the man and the truck arrived at the same time and Goodrum confessed he stole it to a Weatherford police officer when asked, Mineral Wells police said.

“B.J.” Bobby Jack Kelley, 18, of Mineral Wells, was arrested around 3 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant at his residence in the 1600 block of N.W. 3rd Avenue after Goodrum implicated him, police reported.

Both men allegedly confessed to driving both vehicles, according to police.

Police said the tractor and load bucket, belonging to a contractor in Fort Worth, was stolen Saturday night from the track area at the high school where resurfacing work was recently completed.

The men allegedly broke the back window of the tractor, started it without a key and crashed through a gate.

Police believe the pair then drove through a barbed wire fence in the back of the Palo Pinto Sheriff’s Posse grounds and through the white, front fence, causing an estimated $500 to $1,500 damage, before driving up N.E. 23rd Street across town.

The damage to the fence by a vehicle with “unknown tires” was reported Sunday, police said.

The head of facilities at the high school, James Bradford, said he discovered the abandoned tractor Monday morning around 8 a.m. in the area of the 200 block of N.W. 7th Street while on his way from picking up his camera to photograph the damage at the school.

Bradford said he had talked with the contractor earlier that morning and obtained the serial numbers so he checked the numbers on the abandoned blue tractor and they matched.

The tractor and loader were valued at over $21,000, according to the report.

According to the police report, the large 2004 International box truck was stolen between 6:30 p.m. Monday and 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. The truck was reportedly secured and the keys were not in the vehicle, police said.

The men reportedly damaged the top of the truck by driving under something too low.

Both Goodrum and Kelley were charged with theft, more than $20,000, less than $100,000, and unauthorized use of a vehicle, and were booked into Palo Pinto County Jail as of Tuesday afternoon. Bond had not been set.

Police say racial overtones evident in youth's assault
A 14-year-old boy was arrested for assault causing bodily injury after an 11-year-old boy on his way home from school was punched in the face Tuesday afternoon in the area of the junior high school.

The 14-year-old boy, who police said was not black, admitted to using racial slurs but denied the attack on the black victim was racially motivated, police said.

Witnesses said they heard the alleged aggressor say he couldn’t stand black people before walking towards the victim and punching him, police said.

Police were informed of the incident around 8 a.m. by the 11-year-old’s grandfather, police said.

The 14-year-old was arrested around 10 a.m. and charged with assault causing bodily injury.

The information detailing the racial remarks was included in the report, which will be forwarded to the prosecutor and it will be up to the prosecutor whether the boy is charged with a hate crime, as well, Mineral Wells Police Chief Mike McAllester said.

Arrests
Mineral Wells police also reported the following arrests:

• Shane Matthew Shaw, 18, of Mineral Wells, was arrested Tuesday for simple assault after police were called to a fight in the 100 block of N.W. 9th Street.

• Alan Burton Davis, 27, of Mineral Wells, was arrested Wednesday around 10 a.m. in the 1500 block of S.W. 13th Street for public intoxication.

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