HANCOCK COUNTY — Prosecutors have reached a plea agreement with an Indianapolis man who had been charged with 19 crimes after police found several stolen trailers and landscaping equipment on a property in McCordsville.
Tyrone Murphy, of the 7000 block of Cole Wood Boulevard, Indianapolis, agreed to plead guilty to two felonies. The rest of the charges were dismissed; Murphy was sentenced on Thursday, Nov. 14, by Judge Jeff Eggers, who was filling in for Hancock County Circuit Court Judge Scott Sirk.
Eggers gave Murphy a two-year sentence on each count with one year to be served on home detention and the other year to be served on probation. The two sentences will run at the same time.
Murphy admitted guilt to two Level 6 felony charges, including theft where value of the property was between $750 and $50,000; and an obstruction of justice charge.
Prosecutors dropped most of the counts because many of the people who reported items stolen had already received insurance settlements and had moved on from the case.
“There were multiple victims, but the crimes were so long ago and proving this person actually stole the equipment would have been difficult,” said Marie Castetter, chief deputy prosecutor.
Murphy was originally facing 16 felonies and three misdemeanors from incidents dating back as far as 2017.
Murphy was storing trailers, a truck, a tractor and a couple of lawn mowers at a friend’s home in McCordsville, according to police reports. The items had all been reported stolen from various places around central Indiana, and the identification numbers had been scratched off.
Murphy told investigators he’d purchased the items legally and didn’t know they’d been reported stolen. When detectives asked Murphy for paperwork, he provided them with false documents, impeding their investigation, according to court documents.
A man driving near the home in McCordsville where Murphy was keeping his lawn care equipment spotted a trailer that looked similar to one he’d reported stolen in 2017, according to court documents.
As part of their investigation and with the homeowner’s permission, deputies from the sheriff’s department checked some of the other equipment parked on the property.
They discovered: a John Deere tractor valued at $36,000 that was reported stolen in Marion County; a Sure Trac trailer valued at $6,000 that was reported stolen in Hamilton County; a Heartland trailer valued at $3,795 that was reported stolen in Hancock County; two Skag mowers valued at $8,500 that were reported stolen in Marion County; and a Ford pickup truck valued at more than $10,000 that was reported stolen in Johnson County.
The homeowner told investigators all the property belonged to Murphy; he was allowing Murphy to store the items at his home as a favor, and he knew nothing more about them.
