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Mar 10, 2009 7:26 am US/Central
Bulldozer Found Buried On Weatherford Golf Course
Reporting
Jack Fink
WEATHERFORD (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Investigators made an unusual discovery at a golf course located in the 100 block of Club House Drive in Weatherford. But they found it beneath one of the fairways. Now, detectives are looking to see if the golf course owners committed a crime 14 years ago.
The holes at Canyon West Golf Club attract groups of golfers each day, but it was a different kind of hole that brought investigators to the course in late February. Acting on a tip, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Tarrant Regional Auto Crimes Task Force and the National Insurance Crime Bureau started digging up the 13th fairway.
Agents found a 9,000 pound Ford rubber tire loader buried 10 feet underground. Special Agent Tommy Reed with the National Insurance Crime Bureau said, "We recover vehicles daily, but something like this is obviously unusual."
Parker County court records obtained by CBS 11 News show that sources told investigators that the golf club owners, Stan Mickle and his father, Wes Mickle, used the stolen equipment to build the golf course 14 years ago, and later buried it.
Agents are also looking to see if the Mickles reported the loader to their insurance company as stolen.
"Thirty-five percent of all insurance claims are fraudulent in some way or another," Reed said.
Court records show that, about three years ago, a former golf club employee was spraying fertilizer on the fairway when he noticed a yellow metal uncovered by erosion. The employee told investigators, "I asked Stan [Mickle] about it and he told me to cover it."
The worker told agents, "I covered it with soil a few days later. Stan put large rocks on top of the area."
Records show that sources are afraid of telling what they know "due to concerns of physical harm" or "for their safety."
However, one person close to the Mickles reportedly told investigators, "The only knowledge I have is what Stan Mickle himself has told me. We have a stolen bulldozer buried on number 13."
"Brand new, something like that would have cost around $40,000 to $50,000," said Reed. "Depending on the equipment, it could have been more. Right now, it's worthless."
Investigators are now combing through reports of stolen heavy equipment both in Texas and out of state.
Both Stan and Wes Mickle could face charges of theft and insurance fraud. Neither have returned calls seeking comment.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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