By Paul Guggenheimer

January 19, 2023 - A former Beckley, W.Va. man has been sentenced to four years in prison and three years supervised release for stealing nearly $3 million worth of specialized mining equipment from Armstrong and Indiana counties.

David Stanley was sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh on Tuesday after pleading guilty in November 2019 to conspiring to transport millions in mining equipment across state lines from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky into West Virginia.

According to a news release from federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh, five break-ins and thefts happened between February and May 2017 at mining sites in Armstrong and Indiana counties.

As part of his guilty plea, Stanley admitted that he and others stole high-value mining equipment from these sites and sold it to a company that sells new and used mining equipment in Beckley.

Special agents caught the men after finding some of the stolen equipment at the reseller’s facility and identified trucks driven by Dickerson and Stanley as the ones involved in the thefts.

Stanley also admitted that he and others were involved in additional thefts at mining sites in Virginia and Kentucky.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca L. Silinski prosecuted the case and Chief U.S. District Judge Mark R. Hornak sentenced Stanley. U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung commended the FBI for the investigation leading to Stanley’s prosecution.