Investigators in Nebraska who’ve arrested an Iowa man in connection with the theft of some ag commodities are asking for help finding the goods. Seven semi-loads of soybeans are gone from a farm co-op in Lincoln, and the state patrol’s Deb Collins says they have a culprit but not the goods. The beans were taken from the AGP Co-op in Lincoln between July 3 and July 27 of this year and investigators think the grain was either sold, or dumped somewhere within 60 miles of Lincoln. They’re asking for anyone who may have bought beans within that time, or found some dumped around then, to call Nebraska CrimeStoppers. The soybeans apparently belonged to the co-op at the time. The 46-year-old Iowa man was arrested in Nemaha County. Thomas Anderson of Red Oak, Iowa, was arrested Thursday in Auburn, Nebraska for the theft, as he was making a court appearance on some other grain thefts. While investigators still don’t have the missing soybeans, they say they were aware of the suspected theft since mid-summer and waited to make their arrest because they knew the suspect had left Nebraska. She says Anderson had returned to Iowa but they knew he was coming back to Nebraska, so they saved some time and money by skipping extradition from Iowa, and when he appeared for his Auburn court date, he was arrested on the Lincoln charges. Anderson remains in the Lancaster County, Nebraska, jail. The charge may be a felony, depending on the value of the grain stolen. Spokesman Mike Maranell with A-G-P Co-ops in Omaha explains soybean prices were at a near-record high price at the time of the theft. They’re looking for the grain that may have been stolen or stored — Maranell says he figures they were sold since the prices have come down quite a bit in the months since the theft. Maranell says he thinks the man was representing himself oas a qualified buyer from Iowa, and he knows there’s a soybean processing plant in southwest Iowa, so he figures it was tempting with the high demand for soybeans in July and August. During that time Maranell says the company believes their suspect came and went seven times taking away loads of soybeans in a white Mazda semi truck. He says there’s money in commodity theft. He says this kind of thing doesn’t happen often in the ag industry, but as things go up in value, “People have a tendency to setal things that are valuable.” He calculates with 850 to 900 bushels in a semi-load, priced at 9-10 dollars a bushel, with seven truckoads “You’ve got some pretty serious money.”
