A Christian County man and woman have been charged after a month-long investigation into a multi-county theft operation.
According to the Christian County Sheriff’s Office, Rita and Tony Garrett, of Kelly, are both convicted felons who were indicted on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, four felony counts of receiving stolen property, two felony counts of obscuring the identity of a machine and several misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property.
Detective Charles Fiscella with the sheriff’s office says on August 11th detectives executed a search warrant at the couple’s property in the 7000 block of Old Madisonville Road in Kelly where numerous stolen items were located. He says some of the items recovered included an enclosed trailer stolen from a church in Trigg County, a SCAG lawnmower stolen in Webster County, a Yamaha golf cart stolen from Pennyrile State Resort Park and numerous other smaller power tools, chainsaws and leaf blowers. In total, the stolen property value was over $30,000.
In addition to the stolen property, Detective Fiscella says detectives also recovered several firearms from the location.
While serving the warrants another fugitive was also apprehended. The detective reports 54-year old James Neal Gifford, of Dawson Springs, was found to have numerous felony warrants from Christian, Caldwell and Hopkins counties. His charges include four counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, theft by unlawful taking over $1,000 but under $10,000, and a failure to appear for a second-degree forgery.
Rita Garrett and James Gilford were lodged in the Christian County Jail while Tony Garrett was served at the Hopkins County Jail where he is reportedly being held on other charges.
