STILLWATER -- A Cushing man has been charged with embezzling more than $100,000 worth of rails and railroad ties from his then-employer, Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway, and selling the materials.
Rangeley Gene Collier, 56, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Payne County District Court Wednesday. He was ordered to return to court on April 7 when he can ask for a preliminary hearing on the felony embezzlement charge, court records show.
Collier listed no employment when he was booked into the Payne County Jail following his arrest Tuesday night, a sheriff's spokesman said. Collier was released about 30 minutes later after posting $10,000 bail, court officials said.
"He is no longer employed at BNSF railway," Joe Faust, director of public affairs at the company's headquarters in Fort Worth, said Thursday.
Collier was a machine operator in the maintenance department, Faust said. He said he did not have any information regarding Collier's length of employment with the railway.
"We were alerted to this potential crime by a call to our anonymous tip line, which is 1-800-533-2673," Faust said.
"Theft of metal materials is prevalent around the country," Faust noted.
On Jan. 25, BNSF railway police officer Joe White began investigating the theft and delivery of BNSF railroad property in Payne County, according to his affidavit.
White, who has interstate jurisdiction, had received information that a white BNSF dump truck with a backhoe attached on a trailer behind the dump truck "was delivering rail and railroad ties to a residence north of Cushing," his affidavit alleged.
An investigation found that "Collier, a BNSF employee, had been in fact delivering sticks approximately 25 to 30 ft. long of BNSF rail to Mr. W.A. (Bill) Williams at his residence north of Cushing," and had been doing so for a four-year period, the affidavit alleged.
Collier admitted to delivering all of the BNSF equipment to Williams "without authority or permission of any kind and that he knew that he had stolen the equipment and used BNSF railroad equipment to remove the rail and railroad ties from BNSF property," the affidavit alleged.
The total scrap value of the rail over the four-year period was about $100,506, for which Collier received $54,256 in cash from Williams, the affidavit alleged.
Collier admitted to showing Williams "a letter stating he had permission to deliver the rail and railroad ties when in fact he did not," the affidavit alleged. Williams has not been charged with any crime, court records show.
If convicted of embezzlement, Collier could be given as much as a 10-year prison term, a $10,000 fine and an order to pay restitution, court records show.
