Paris, Ill.-Prosecutors say they don’t think given the circumstances that three years in prison is a stiff sentence for a 33-year-old Marshall man who pleaded guilty to stealing anhydrous ammonia from the FS fertilizer plant just outside of town. “It (the sentence) was something both sides agreed to, not something contested at the hearing,” Edgar County State’s Attorney Matt Sullivan told Green Markets. He said the sentence also takes into account the man’s previous history, which may keep him locked up for longer than three years. The man and another individual were arrested as two Edgar County deputies were checking the fertilizer plant where several anhydrous ammonia thefts had occurred. The case against the second person is still pending. “These thefts are less common now than five years ago,” Sullivan explained. “But they’re still not a rarity.” He said deputies routinely check the fertilizer businesses when they’re out on their rounds. In this case one of the two arresting deputies hadn’t visited FS and they made it a point to stop by, finding a set of tracks in the snow and a car with phony licenses plates. The deputies looked into the cab and the bed of the truck and saw several gasoline cans, plus hoses and plumbing fittings they knew from experience are commonly used by anhydrous thieves.
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