• John Derrick "J.D." Meade, 25, of Peach Creek, was arrested in Logan by Logan County Probation Officer Kay Browning, West Logan Police Chief Robert .J. Ward and Logan County Sheriff’s Deputy J. Sheppard for a probation violation and three counts of obtaining goods by false pretenses on April 15.
Chief Ward was contacted around the first of the month by an elderly World War II veteran in his town who could not find his wallet after a young man who claimed to be an apple butter salesman came to his house, supposedly on behalf of an area church.
Ward scoured the neighborhood looking for the salesman and the wallet. The next day, Ward found others who described the same individual who misrepresented himself as being affiliated with two area churches.
Some of them had already paid for products which never were delivered. Ward also confirmed that the young man was not affiliated with either of the two area churches for which he claimed to be selling apple butter or peanut butter eggs.
Ironically, Meade was also being sought by the Logan Probation Office for violation of his probation agreement after he reportedly attempted to break into an automobile at McDonald’s in the city of Logan and fled from police.
When Browning learned about the fraud and theft investigation in West Logan, she teamed with Chief Ward and the Logan County Sheriff's Department to find Meade.
Browning supplied Chief Ward with a photograph of Meade and several of Meade's alleged victims confirmed his identity from the photograph.
Ward got an arrest warrant for Meade on Wednesday and began scouring the area looking for him, assisted by sheriff’s deputies. Meade reportedly turned himself in a few hours later to Browning at the Logan County Courthouse.
"We got him in custody today and this just shows how smoothly things work out when you have good people in different agencies working together," Browning said yesterday.
"We had good teamwork on this case, which led to a stronger arrest,” agreed Chief Ward.
According to police reports, Meade was going from house to house in the town of West Logan telling residents that he was selling apple butter for the Central United Baptist Church for $10 per quart. He was also selling peanut butter eggs for $5 each. He did not have the goods with him, but was taking payment with the promise to deliver the items."
The incidents took place from April 1 to April 4. Meade also reportedly told one man he was soliciting contributions for a pageant his daughter was entering. One man allegedly gave Meade $1. Another woman reportedly gave Meade $20 for two quarts of apple butter to be delivered, but "he never returned with the apple butter." Meade allegedly approached another victim on April 4 at her place of work and told her he was selling peanut butter eggs for Central United Baptist Church and she ordered two for $10.
"When he did not deliver them, she called his cell phone number and asked about delivery," the report states. "He told her that the items would be delivered by April 11th."
On April 9, Meade reportedly changed his story and claimed he was selling the items for Marietta Baptist Church. The items were never delivered, according to the report.
There were several other witnesses who said they were approached by Meade who allegedly attempted to solicit money under the pretense he was doing so for a church.
"Rev. Glenn White of the Central Baptist Church stated to me that his church was not soliciting door to door," the witness said.
"We asked J.D. Meade about the missing wallet, but he denied taking it," Ward said yesterday. "More charges may be pending against him from other people he tried to con. We ask that anyone who was approached by a young man representing himself as going door-to-door selling foodstuffs from either church and who gave him money to contact the West Logan Police Department at 304-752-3244."
Meade was booked at the Southwestern Regional Jail at Holden at 3:45 p.m.
Post a Comment
