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Thieves huffed and puffed, and hauled whole house away

Two men charged with stealing brick home, and one with paying them in cash and drugs, in East Texas town

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thursday, March 24, 2005

LINDALE -- When Smith County Constable Dennis Taylor got a call reporting a stolen house, his first question was, "Is it a trailer house, ma'am?"

"No, it's a brick house," the real estate company representative replied.

Board by board, shingle by shingle, for nearly three months, thieves dismantled a three-bedroom brick house in this East Texas town north of Tyler and carted it away until only a pile of rubble was left.

Authorities say Brandon Ray Parmer, 29, and Darrell Patrick Maxfield, 44, both of Tyler, took the house apart and sold it for drugs, in plain view of everyone cruising by on U.S. 69, Lindale's main street. Both men were arrested this week.

Taylor said the men worked slowly and haphazardly in daylight, with no one questioning their work, because everyone assumed it was the work of Wal-Mart or Lowe's, the two large retail stores laying new foundations nearby. The home actually belonged to Dallas-based St. Ives Realty.

"It's the strangest case I've ever worked in my life," Taylor said. "Everybody drove by and waved at them."

Authorities also arrested Jesse Gino Vega, 36, who is accused of giving the other two cash and methamphetamines in exchange for the materials.

All three were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a second-degree felony, and released from the county jail after posting $10,000 bail.

Authorities recovered lumber worth about $25,000 from Vega's house in Lindale. They also found plumbing, bathroom and kitchen fixtures; fence materials; doors; and windows.

Officers got "about five trailer loads of property that came out of that house," Taylor said, then paused. "Well, it didn't come out of the house. It was the house."

burglary of a hab

So, you charge it as burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft, namely, stealing the house itself? What if the defendant took off the bricks one at a time from the outside. Has he ever "entered" the habitation?

Charge them with Burglary of a Hab w/Intent to commit theft.

Sooner or later they had to enter the home to get to the interior portions.

Alternative; Charge with theft, value should be close to or over $100,000.

If you charge theft, what is the date of the offense? Or, do you charge an aggregated theft, putting in the broad range of time it took to take the house apart? And, do you have to alleged every brick and pipe or can you just say, "a house"?