NEWS

Restitution ordered in vulnerable adult theft case

Kevin Jenkins
kevin@thespectrum.com
James "Buck" Mays

A former pro football player was awarded a $1,500 court judgment Tuesday as restitution for a vehicle stolen from his Hurricane business in 2013 in a case that has revolved around irreplaceable sports career mementos.

James Buckley “Buck” Mays, 46, pleaded guilty a year ago to possessing some of the property taken from Marshall Shirk, 75, who played defensive tackle positions for UCLA from 1959 to 1962 and for Canada’s Ottawa Rough Riders from 1965 to 1972, with a brief stint for the Minnesota Vikings in between.

Hurricane resident Anthony Randall Schreiber, 41, was convicted in September of stealing Shirk’s property and exploiting a vulnerable adult while living with him and his common-law wife, Susie O’Dell, at their Apple Valley home.

Mays and St. George resident Kiley Clyde Riggs, 34, were identified by investigators as Shirk’s employees at a Hurricane auto refurbishing warehouse and as people who had information about the property Schreiber stole. Riggs was convicted on three cases of receiving stolen property similar to Mays’ case, but Riggs’ father has said the stolen property was his, not Shirk’s, in Riggs’ cases.

All three men have been separately convicted of drug crimes and have turned against each other since prosecution of the stolen property cases began. Schreiber and Riggs are serving prison sentences, while Mays appeared in court Tuesday free from custody.

Schreiber, as the primary suspect in Shirk’s case, was ordered to pay $9,238 in restitution in October.

Shirk took the stand Tuesday to testify about his losses, but said he couldn’t remember how he met Mays or what Mays’ involvement might have been in relation to the thefts and damage to property at Shirk’s Hurricane warehouse.

He answered questions about a list he and O’Dell prepared of damaged and missing items, which included vehicles such as a Porsche and a Nissan, a spray gun, micrometers, working Mercedes motors that were going to be rebuilt, a trailer, exhaust headers and a tire-changing machine.

The couple calculated their losses at nearly $30,000.

Shirk has been plagued by severely hampered speech since undergoing surgery for a cancer at the base of his tongue years ago, so at times he used his fingers to show numerical answers or wrote words that were otherwise unintelligible to the court in response to questions from the prosecution and defense.

O’Dell said Shirk suffers a degree of dementia that might be attributable to his football career, and acknowledged that she didn’t know exactly who stole or damaged certain items either. But aside from items that went missing from their house while Schreiber was living in their basement, losses at the warehouse occurred while Mays was living there without permission, she said.

O’Dell testified Schreiber had approached the couple about helping Mays find a place to live after Mays was evicted, but she denied that Shirk permitted Mays to live at the warehouse. She sought legal help after receiving complaints from police and the neighbors about loud parties at the warehouse, she said, and Mays eventually left.

O’Dell said Mays took a four-wheel go-kart and a motorcycle that was a memento of her deceased son, and that when she confronted Mays about them Mays said he had bought them. She said she had a photo of the vehicles being taken by Mays and that she had become very emotional at the thought of losing her son’s motorcycle.

O’Dell acknowledged that Mays returned the motorcycle despite his claim he had paid for it, but denied defense attorney Jay Winward’s suggestion that she had told Mays to keep the go-kart. Judge Eric Ludlow ultimately ruled the go-kart was the only claim he could take action on because Shirk and O’Dell had not provided sufficient receipts or other evidence that would help him to decide the restitution claim.

“There are inferences in this case that Mr. Mays may have taken or damaged certain items. However, there has to be some tangible evidence or proof for the court to make an order of restitution against Mr. Mays,” Ludlow said. “Mr. Mays … was convicted of theft by receiving stolen property, and not that he actually stole the items.”

O’Dell asked the court to dedicate the $1,500 in restitution to animal rescue, citing the work done by the Providing Animals With Support adoption agency. Deputy County Attorney Eric Gentry said any restitution would be paid to the victims and they could make the donations as they saw fit.

Ludlow ordered Mays to pay at a rate of $25 per month, noting that Mays is receiving limited income because of a disability.

Follow Kevin Jenkins, @SpectrumJenkins. Call him at 435-674-6253.

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