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Competitors watch out for one another Competitors watching out for each other lead to a Needville man's arrest for the alleged theft of a trailer load of sod from a Wharton County based grass farm. The incident started with a call to the sheriff's department at 5:56 p.m. Tuesday. The caller, an employee of another grass farm, said he saw a truck hauling a flatbed trailer loaded with grass leaving VGT Sod farm located along FM 2817 south of Iago. The witness said he was also in contact with Wharton County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Bill Copeland and was trailing the suspect vehicle. "We like to take pride in the fact that residents of the county know our department," Sheriff's Lt. Danny Marek said. "And the fact that someone following a suspect can get hold of us on a cell phone is a great example of that. It's also good to see the people of the county watching out for each other. What tipped the witness off was all of this was going on after normal business hours." Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Price was dispatched to the scene, met with the VGT manager and then began to follow the trail of the suspect vehicle. Copeland was able to stop the truck and trailer on FM 442 about three miles south of Hwy. 36 in Fort Bend County. He was joined at the scene by Price, the witness and members of the Fort Bend Sheriff's Office and Needville Police Department. Taken into custody was George Anthony Bustoz, 45, of Needville. He was being held at the Wharton County Jail as of Thursday morning on local charges of theft, bail set at $2,500; and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, $2,500, based on using a forklift at the VGT site to load the sod. He was also being held on a second theft charge, bail not set. "The investigation into this is continuing," Marek said. "We're contacting other farms about possible thefts." |
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