3 plead in Nov. Liberty heist

The couple left with their cat and dog, and paid their rent.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORT

CLEVELAND — There’s been much discussion and even a song written about Roger Lee Dillon since the 23-year-old and his girlfriend were arrested and accused of stealing millions. But there was no singing when the couple, along with Dillon’s mom, appeared in federal court.

Dillon and his two co-defendants are accused of stealing more than $7 million from Armored Transportation Systems on Tibbetts-Wick Road in Liberty Township. They pleaded innocent Wednesday.

Dillon had worked as a driver at the company for about nine months.

Boyd and Dillon are charged with bank larceny. All three are charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, and transporting and aiding and abetting in that transportation from Ohio to West Virginia.

If convicted, Boyd and Dillon face up to 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Gregory would face 15 years in prison. They have no prior criminal records.

Trial is set for March 24.

On the night of Nov. 26, when the company had cash from the busy post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend in the region’s stores, someone entered the building using another employee’s security code and rearmed the system 24 minutes later.

Five days later, Boyd, Dillon and Gregory were arrested at a mobile home about 250 miles away in Pipestem, W.Va.

Before leaving with their cat and dog, Boyd and Dillon stopped to put the next month’s rent in their landlord’s mailbox along with a one-word note that read: “SORRY.”

Authorities say they found clues in Boyd’s purple pickup truck, including receipts from Beckley, W.Va. A retailer in that town directed the FBI to Pipestem, a nearby town of 633. The federal indictment says Boyd and Dillon had gone to West Virginia in October to look for a place to hide out.

The saga inspired a trio of local musicians to turn the details of the high-profile crime into a song, picking up a few laughs and raising money for cancer research along the way.

The song “Dumb as Dillon” has been featured on local radio and has been sold locally.