Colbert man acquitted of theft charges

A Tuscumbia man accused of receiving stolen property in Franklin County was found not guilty by a jury on Thursday.

Gary Weeks, 48, 300 Osborn Hill Rd., Tuscumbia, was acquitted on the charge of second-degree receiving stolen property.

Weeks was originally charged in December after Franklin County resident Tommy Hollimon discovered his truck was missing from the property he owned on Highway 724.

Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Doug Evans said Hollimon filed a police report but went to search for the vehicle on his own.

Evans said after looking several places, Hollimon found his pickup at the Franklin County Recycling Center on Franklin 77. Four days after the truck was found, Roger Chaney, an employee at the recycling center, said he saw the person who had sold the truck and indentified him as Gary Weeks.

“A month before this trial, the Franklin County Recycling Center’s records were burned in a fire so there was no video surveillance records and no records of the original transaction in the case,” Evans said.

Defense attorney Rebecca Thomason contended Chaney was actually the one who stole the vehicle from Hollimon’s residence and towed it to the recycling center and said there wasn’t any evidence to prove that her client was actually the one who took the pickup to the recycling center.

The jury ultimately decided there was enough reasonable doubt to acquit Weeks on the receiving stolen property charge.

“We are obviously disappointed with the outcome of this case, but we respect the jury’s decision,” Evans said.