Witnesses have been subpoenaed to testify in a January 24th preliminary hearing for a man accused in an extensive theft operation that resulted in numerous pieces of stolen farm equipment and prompted nine felony theft charges, each count exceeding$100,000. Fifty nine year old Marvin Slyter, of Garnett, was charged in June for the string of thefts, consisting of John Deere farm equipment, from various locations throughout East Central Kansas….from private individuals. The Kansas Department of Transportation and the Financial Services arm of John Deere. The incidents date back to November 2019.
The incidents prompted widespread criticism of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department at the time because of the pace of the investigation and delays in the subsequent filing of charges. Sheriff Vern Valentine defended his department at the time, saying the volume of thefts and the fact that victims and crime scenes were located in various counties made the investigation all the more complicated.