An owner-operator who was contracted by an oilfield rental equipment company is facing felony charges for allegedly refusing to return equipment until he was paid.
According to a report in the Williston Herald, 39 year old truck driver Michael Fisher of Great American Transport has been charged with Class A felony theft.
Fisher’s charges stem from an incident that began in December of 2017 when he was hired by R&R Oilfield Services to transport a flatbed trailer loaded with oilfield equipment from North Dakota to Texas. According to reports, Fisher picked up the trailer on December 26, but on December 27, he contacted R&R Oilfield to let them know that the trailer was damaged and in need of repair.
This is when police say that the story became more complicated.
Police: Trucker Demands Money For Trailer Repair That Didn’t Happen
On December 29, police say that Fisher called R&R Oilfield again asking for $1900 for reimbursement for repairs to the trailer. The facility in Bismarck where Fisher allegedly told R&R Oilfield that the trailer was being repaired did not exist and investigators say that Fisher was actually at another facility having work done on his tractor, not his trailer.
Arrest documents indicate that Fisher called R&R Oilfield again several times that day asking for varying amounts of money between $2000 and $4000.
When R&R Oilfield contacted Fisher on January 2 to give them the location of the trailer so that it could be recovered, Fisher reportedly told the company that it was somewhere in Grand Junction, Colorado. Police say that Fisher would not disclose the precise location without payment.
GPS records from Fisher’s truck later showed that the trailer was never in Colorado.
After a couple more attempts to collect money from R&R Oilfield, Fisher allegedly called back with the actual location of the trailer on January 31. It was located by police in Minot, North Dakota, right where Fisher said it would be. It isn’t clear from the reporting whether the trailer was damaged in any way.
Fisher has not yet been arrested. If he is found guilty, the maximum penalty for class A felony theft is 20 years.