Board by board, shingle by shingle, for nearly three months, they dismantled the three-bedroom brick house and carted it away until only a pile of rubble was left.
Their only problem: they didn't own it.
Authorities say two men jailed this week took the house apart and sold it for drugs, in plain view of everyone cruising by on Lindale's Main Street - U.S. Highway 69.
"We drove by and watched the house come down," said Smith County Constable Dennis Taylor. "We wondered why it was taking so long, rather than just bulldoze it. It took about a month before the top even collapsed."
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.
But the home actually belonged to Dallas-based St. Ives Realty. A company representative called Taylor on March 15 to report her house stolen.
"I said, 'Is it a trailer house, ma'am?'" Taylor recalled. "She said, 'No, it's a brick house.' I said, 'What?'"
Brandon Ray Parmer, 29, and Darrell Patrick Maxfield, 44, both of Tyler, were arrested Monday. Taylor said both men confessed to dismantling the home.
Authorities also arrested Jesse Gino Vega on Tuesday after executing a search warrant at his home in the 14600 block of County Road 463 in Lindale.
Vega, 36, is accused of giving cash and methamphetamine to the other two men in exchange for the materials from the home. Taylor said Vega refused to surrender to deputies for about an hour before finally emerging from his house Tuesday.
All three suspects were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a second-degree felony, and released from Smith County Jail after posting $10,000 bond.
At Vega's residence, authorities recovered lumber worth about $25,000. 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."
Taylor estimated about 90 percent of the house was found at Vega's residence. The brick and shingles are still unaccounted for.
Taylor worked in conjunction with Constable Dale Geddie and deputy constables Cliff Robison, Tommy Goodman and Mark Waters. They are still working on tips, and believe at least three other people are involved in stealing the house.
"It's the strangest case I've ever worked in my life," Taylor said. "Everybody drove by and waved at them, said, 'Great to see you getting that house off - we're fixing to get Lowe's and Wal-Mart in here.'"
Source : http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news....=461&rfi=9
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