FORT WORTH — Twenty-three sealed felony indictments have been returned by a grand jury in Montague County against 10 people in the theft of more than $1 million worth of oil from North Texas wells.
The indictments are the result of an ongoing three-year criminal investigation, Capt. Kevin Benton of the Wise County Sheriff's Department said.
"We're still doing interviews," Benton said. "We hope there will be additional indictments to follow. In fact, we expect there to be."
The suspects, some of whom have prison records, generally range in age from their 20s to their 50s and live everywhere from the immediate Dallas-Fort Worth area to Montague County, Benton said.
Some of those indicted were truck drivers for companies that haul salty wastewater from wells, but the companies themselves are not suspected of wrongdoing, Benton said.
The drivers "were going to remote locations in the dead of night and loading oil instead of water," Benton said.
The names of the suspects are not being divulged because the indictments are sealed and some of those indicted have not been arrested, Benton said.
The drivers "were going to remote locations in the dead of night and loading oil instead of water," Benton said.
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