Tulare man sentenced for theft of tractors

A 45-year-old Tulare man has been sentenced to four years and eight months in state prison for the thefts of six tractors.

The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office reports that between Oct. 22 and Nov. 27, 2012, Glenn Allen Crothers obtained six tractors under the false pretense that he was taking them to a vocational school where students would fix them. Crothers told the tractor owners that he would later return the repaired tractors. Instead, he recycled them for cash.

While out on bail, Crothers reportedly stole another tractor from a storage location, attempting to recycle it for cash.

On Dec. 29, 2012, Crothers pleaded no contest to receiving a stolen motor vehicle, theft from elder or dependant adult, resisting arrest by the use of force or violence, petty theft with prior convictions and one misdemeanor violation for resisting or delaying a peace officer. He also admitted a special allegation that he committed a felony while out on bail, the district attorney said.

The case was investigated by detective Travis Shaw with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department’s agricultural crime unit, and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Darla J. Kaiser, rural crime prosecutor.