(Stillwater) — An ex-convict from Stillwater has been given a two and one-half year prison term for embezzling 15 sheets of 4′ x 4′ stainless steel from his former employer, the Victory Energy plant in Cushing, while he was working there as a welder in July.
On his release from prison, Shane Lee McHenry, 32, will be on probation for two and one-half years during which he must pay $3,753 restitution and $400 in fees, under Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler’s order entered March 13.
McHenry, who had been free on $5,000 bond, was taken into custody following his sentencing, court records show. He had pleaded guilty in January.
McHenry was in possession of a large quantity of stainless steel when he was stopped by a Sapulpa police officer for speeding on July 19, 2008, an affidavit by Cushing Police Chief Terry Brannon said.
“McHenry stated that he was in fact employed by Victory Energy of Cushing and was transporting the material to the plant in Collinsville, Ok., per his boss’s instruction,” the affidavit said.
A Sapulpa police officer issued a traffic citation to McHenry and released him after making a video record of McHenry and the truck containing the stainless steel, the affidavit said.
Two days later, the Cushing police chief went to Victory Energy and asked McHenry about the traffic stop and where the stainless steel sheets came from, to which McHenry replied, “the scrap pile,” Brannon’s affidavit said.
“I asked McHenry if he had permission to take the stainless steel sheets and he said no. I told McHenry that the stainless steel sheets he was alleged to have taken were sitting near a fence and not a part of what could be perceived as a scrap pile.
“McHenry acknowledged that was true, but assumed they were scrap since the company was no longer building dryers,” Brannon wrote in his affidavit.
“I asked McHenry if he remembered about how many sheets of stainless steel he took, and he said about 15. I asked McHenry what he did with them, and he told me he took them to Advanced Steel in Tulsa, Ok., and sold them.
“McHenry acknowledged he received about $387 for just over 800 pounds of stainless steel,” the Cushing police chief wrote in his affidavit.
“When asked what he did with the money from the sale of the stainless steel sheets, he said he lost some of it at the Osage Casino, and then used the rest to pay down some fines at Tulsa County, which he says he did by mail, and buy gas and cigarettes, Brannon’s affidavit said.
According to state Department of Corrections records, McHenry has six prior felony convictions for which he was imprisoned between 1994 and 2005.
He served time for two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count each of possession of a stolen vehicle and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, all in 1994 in Tulsa County, DOC records show.
He also was incarcerated for escape from a county jail and attempted larceny of an automobile, both in 1995 in Bryan County, DOC records show. He had been released from prison about four years ago, DOC records show.
