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Ronald Russell, Jr.
An Okaloosa County Road Department employee is facing felony charges after he took heavy duty county equipment to his property, without permission, to remove trees.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged 50-year old Ronald Russell Jr. with two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle.
Russell says he took a county loader, valued at $185,000, to his property on West Kelly Road in Baker to take out some trees, but the loader became stuck in mud. He then went and got a county grader, valued at $160,000, to try to tow the loader out of trouble – however the grader got stuck as well.
The equipment had been parked at the Blackman store on State Road 189. Russell’s district supervisor filed a written affidavit of complaint, stating said Russell had no authority to take the county equipment to his private property for personal use.
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