by Al Summers
News Editor • alsummers@timescourier.com
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There has been another arrest, and a rearrest of a suspect, in the case of a number of pieces of stolen heavy equipment, utility trailers, and sports vehicles.
Information released by Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson showed that Paul Anderson, of Ellijay, turned himself into Gilmer County authorities Tuesday morning, Dec. 12, and was charged with removal or falsification of an identification number, which is a felony.
Nathan Anderson, the son of Paul Anderson and who had been arrested earlier in the year in connection with the theft of other pieces of heavy equipment, was rearrested and charged with criminal solicitation in connection with attempting to get an East Ellijay Police officer to “engage in conduct constituting a felony (tampering with evidence). The officer reported the attempt to agents of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
Nathan Anderson was also charged with criminal use of an article with an altered identification number and removal or falsification of an identification number.
The latest arrests were a result of an investigation conducted by the GBI and the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office into a utility trailer recovered by Charlotte, North Carolina law enforcement officers. The trailer had been stolen from Cherokee County, Georgia in 2005.
Another trailer was discovered on the property of the Andersons that was determined to have been stolen from Clermont, Ga. in 2004.
Paul Anderson was processed and released on bond from the Gilmer County Detention Center after a short stay, and Nathan Anderson remains incarcerated in the Gilmer County Detention Center without bond.