Two Wheatland, Wyoming, men are facing felony theft charges on claims they stole large rocks from a woman’s ruby mine in Albany County over the course of a year.
John Hall, 44, and John McVey, 54, could face up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines each if convicted.
McVey was charged last week and is set for an initial hearing in Laramie Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Hall’s case rose to the felony-level Albany County District Court last week.
The case dates back to August of last year, according to two evidentiary affidavits by Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Flores. He was dispatched to a mining claim Aug. 11, 2023, near the Albany and Platte County line on a report of trespassing and theft.
He couldn’t identify a suspect, but the investigation waged on “with continued trespassing and theft from the mining claim,” say the documents.
Thirteen months later on Sept. 27, 2024, Flores learned that the owner of the mining claim had possibly identified two suspects.
She had photographs and videos of a blue truck with a light-colored door on the driver’s side on the same ranch where her mining claim sat, she said.
She followed that truck to a home on the ranch in which McVey was living, the woman reported.
McVey was a worker on the ranch but was fired Sept. 15. He was allowed to stay in the home until he found a new house, says the document.
The ranch’s director of security also helped identify the suspects, the deputy wrote.
The rocks taken from the mining claim have “a substantial value attached to them.” The larger ones could be worth more than $1,000, the claim owner told the investigator.
Another deputy contacted Platte County Undersheriff Ward McConahay on Sept. 27, and the latter agreed to help Albany County investigators contact Hall and McVey since the two men lived in Platte County by then, the document says.
Interviews
Flores interviewed them both, the affidavits in the cases say.
Hall said he didn’t know it was a mining claim; he believed McVey had permission to be on the property though he was fired. He went onto the property and took rocks, and he didn’t know the rocks were valuable, according to his case affidavit.
“(He said) they were just going to use them for decorations around his pond,” Flores related from Hall’s interview.
The interview ended when Hall asked for an attorney.
Flores also spoke with McVey and documented similar answers from him.
McVey said he didn’t know the rocks had value and the men wanted to use them for decorations, says the account of his interview. He, too, admitted to going onto the property and taking rocks, his case affidavit says.
The Haul
Flores removed and weighed more than 420 pounds of stolen rocks from Hall’s possession that day, the document says.
One rock, weighing 243 pounds, was worth at least $5,000 and had the potential to be worth much more depending on what gems were inside it, the claim owner told the investigator.
One ruby carat was worth $1,000, and this large rock had the potential to have several rubies in it, she said.
Flores searched up rubies and stones for sale online from that same mine, and found them ranging from $50 to $4,000 in value, he wrote in the document.
The Albany County Public Defender’s office did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment on the two men’s behalf.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
