Three charged in tractor thefts; one machine returned

Darin Yates got a call about 4:30 p.m. Friday to come get his tractor.

The $25,000 Massey-Ferguson had been stolen a week-and-a-half earlier, and the 29-year-old Yates, of Rockwell, had given up on its return.

“I still didn’t think I would get it back,” Yates said.

Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies, with the help of Rockwell and Granite Quarry police departments and the N.C. Highway Patrol, found the tractor on Donnie Martin Milam’s property in Gold Hill, said Sheriff George Wilhelm.

Deputies began gathering information Friday after a Granite Quarry man reported the vehicle identification number on his tractor was stolen. Deputies started investigating the area and located Milam, Wilhelm said.

Milam; his son, Shaun Martin Milam, 21, of Faith; and Christopher Mark Stewart, 21, of Salisbury, all were charged over the weekend.

Donnie Milam was charged with four counts of possession of stolen goods. Stewart and the younger Milam were charged with four counts of felony larceny. The trio is also suspected of taking a straw blower from an area resident last week.

Donnie Milam works for the Salisbury Utilities Department, but city officials were not aware of his arrest this morning.

Yates, Fay B. Fowler and Edwin Ray Shipton all reported their tractors — all Massey-Fergusons — stolen nearly two weeks ago. Deputies have not located Fowler’s and Shipton’s tractors.

“I guess they were trying to sell them,”Wilhelm said of the thefts.

Yates’ tractor had minor damage, including a broken kill switch and cables. “The main thing is that it’s back,” he said. Yates said he is now in the process of getting theft insurance on the tractor and plans to build a shed to house it.

Donnie Milam was released from Rowan County Detention Center on a $50,000 secured bond. Shaun Milam and Stewart were both released on a $2,000 bond each.

Contact Jonathan Weaver at 704-797-4266 or jweaver@salisburypost.com .