Watson

ELKINS — A Randolph County man is behind bars after allegedly stealing a side-by-side vehicle.

Stanley R. Watson, Jr., 38, of Elkins, is charged with grand larceny and conspiracy to commit a felony. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a cash-only bond of $18,000, and a cash/surety bond of $30,000.

The criminal complaint, prepared by Corporal S.D. Kyle of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, states that on March 27, a woman told the officer that she had received Facebook messages from Watson “trying to sell her a side-by-side,” telling her it was an $18,000 item but he would sell it to her for $500. He also allegedly told her, “It’s hot, though.” She told the officer she did not know where the side-by-side was currently.

Kyle then contacted the Mountain Region Task Force, which told him they could assist him with an undercover vehicle, the complaint states. He had the woman who spoke to him earlier set up a meeting with Watson in Dailey.

During the meeting, Watson and another man told officers that they had stolen another side-by-side that morning from a residence on Files Creek Road, according to the complaint. Officers traveled to the location where they said they had taken the vehicle, saying they noticed it that morning and that the keys were in it. They told police they “planned on selling it to buy some tools to start a contracting business.”

Officers spoke with the owner of the side-by-side, who said he did not realize it had been taken that morning until the police contacted him, the complaint states.