The Tennessee Highway Patrol Criminal Investigations Division (THP-CID), along with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, charged six individuals on Monday for an elaborate scheme of allegedly stealing tractor trailer loads of cargo worth $1.8 million over the last two years.

Investigators say that Jay Sanders of Monteagle and Gary Alto of Whitwell were employed by SCS Trucking in Whitwell. They were responsible for hauling loads of scrap metal from a company in Ashland City, Tn. to South Pittsburg. The two truck drivers allegedly devised a scheme in which they would pay off security guards at one plant and workers at another, and then divert the loads to Dodson Scrap Metal Yard in Whitwell.

Authorities said the owners of Dodson Scrap Metal Yard, Randall and Melissa Brown allegedly would not document receiving the metal and would haul it on their own tractor trailer to a scrap metal dealer in Alabama for cash. The scheme has allegedly been ongoing since at least 2010.

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