A Jury Trial was conducted Tuesday, Nov. 29 and Wednesday, Nov. 30 in the Pawnee County District Court regarding a felony criminal complaint against Judi Lynn Allison, 50 of Delphos, Kansas.
The jury heard testimony that on Sept. 28, 2019, the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to a residence north of Garfield regarding a possible theft. Upon arrival, the deputy was advised the owner of the property passed away in December of 2018 and his eldest daughter was named executrix of the estate.
The deceased had been a self-employed farm mechanic. An estate auction was scheduled for Oct. 5, 2019, to sell his equipment and shop tools. However, when the executrix and auctioneer arrived at the property to start putting items on trailers in preparation for the upcoming auction, they discovered all of the tools had been removed from her father’s service truck which had been locked in a tool shed.
There was no evidence of forced entry. The auctioneer testified that approximately a month before he’d gone through the property with the executrix’s husband making notes for a sale bill, and at that time the service trucks’ approximate eight toolboxes had been full of miscellaneous shop tools.
At trial, the auctioneer valued the missing property at approximately $1,200 but acknowledged he had testified at the Preliminary Hearing he believed the items to be worth between $1,700 and $2,500.
Additional testimony was presented that over Labor Day weekend, the executrix had invited her father’s siblings to come to the property and take items that held sentimental value to them from the house and outbuildings. Allison, who was the decease’s youngest sister, selected a few large items that would not fit in her vehicle. The family moved those selected items to the locked tool shed and granted Allison permission to come back to the property at a later date to retrieve them.
A neighbor came forward after the auction and advised law enforcement that one evening he’d noticed the tool shed door open and so he stopped by because he knew no one should be there. He testified at trial that he discovered Allison and her husband in the shed. He further testified that he saw approximately six large boxes of what he believed to be tools loaded in their enclosed trailer.
Trail cam video confirmed that the Allisons spent approximately two hours on the property the evening of September 5, 2019. When contacted by family and law enforcement, Allison denied any knowledge of the missing tools. A search warrant was executed on the Allison’s Ottawa County rural residence on December 12, 2019. The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for 21 missing shop tools that were clearly identified on the auction sale bill. Law enforcement seized nine items from the Allison residence which they believed matched the property descriptions.
At the time the search warrant was executed, Allison claimed the items seized were her husband’s. At trial, Allison took the stand in her own defense and testified that four of the nine tools seized from her home had in fact come from her brother’s estate but argued her niece had given her permission to take the items.
The jury deliberated for approximately 30 minutes before returning a guilty verdict Wednesday evening of Theft of Property worth less than $1,500.
After accepting the verdict, Pawnee County District Judge Bruce Gatterman ordered a presentence investigation report be completed to determine a restitution amount. Sentencing will be scheduled once the report is completed.
The defendant remains free on her own recognizance.