Men arrested on theft of farm equipment

HAYES CENTER -- The FBI has arrested a Hayes County man on suspicion of the theft of dozens of tractors and farm implements between November 2005 and April 2008.

Ryan R. Hanzlick, 32, of rural Hayes Center and Matthew T. Jones, 21, of Colby, Kan., are charged with 12 counts of transporting goods and merchandise (knowing they were stolen, converted or taken by fraud), according to the FBI office in Kansas City and the North Platte Bulletin. Each man faces 120 years in federal prison.

The federal indictments, which came down March 3 in Kansas, indicate that the thefts involved large farm equipment taken in five states -- Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Colorado. Hanzlick and Jones was arrested March 4.

The investigation of the thefts involved the Hayes County and Thomas County, Kan., sheriff's departments, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and FBI investigators in Nebraska and Kansas.

The Bulletin reports that Jones was already charged with the theft of a John Deere tractor and prototype 16-row planter -- valued at $350,000-475,000 -- stolen in 2008 from Sutherland-Paxton-area farmer Roric Paulman. The Bulletin reports that Jones allegedly stole the equipment, drove it 175 miles straight south to Colby through the night and used it to plant his own acres.

Authorities found the Paulman tractor on Jones' Colby-area farm in late 2009. They also found four tractors, two planters, grain drills, crawler tractors, grain hoppers and a flatbed trailer. Jones paid 10 percent of a $100,000 bond and was released from Thomas County jail.

Hanzlick was also charged in Kansas, a misdemeanor charge that he tried to take some equipment from the Jones farm in 2009. Thomas County Sheriff Rod Taylor said that charge was dismissed because the equipment turned out to be Hanzlick's.

The Bulletin reports that Jones and Hanzlick are childhood friends and graduates of Colby High School. Jones, operating as Jones Land and Cattle, owns two mobile home parks in North Platte that Hanzlick manages. Hanzlick also owns a dozen rental homes of his own.

In 2007, Hanzlick bought pastureland 10 miles south of North Platte on Highway 83 to develop residential plots. The Bulletin writes that he sold that land in 2008.

Bulletin reporter George Lauby writes that Hanzlick has worked for a farmer near the Frontier-Hayes-Lincoln county lines for the past year. Hanzlick's employee describes Hanzlick as a responsible, intelligent worker, respected by friends and acquaintances, Lauby wrote. Hanzlick's wife is a Russian immigrant and they have a blended family of four children, according to Lauby.