Fort Wayne - A man who retired five years ago from auto parts maker Dana Corp. allegedly filled a pole barn with a stolen cache of Dana products and sold them on eBay.
Jene A. Chadwell is accused of stealing so many axle assemblies, bolts, bearings and other products that investigators needed a semitrailer to haul away the $130,000 worth of parts.
"Everyone was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the items that Jene Chadwell had in his possession," Indiana State Police Detective Mark Heffelfinger wrote in a probable cause affidavit filed in Allen Superior Court.
Chadwell, 68, was charged with receiving stolen property Sept. 3. Heffelfinger said Tuesday that he did not know whether Chadwell had been arrested, and there was no record of him at the Allen County Jail.
A woman identified herself as Chadwell's wife name said he had no comment when The Associated Press called his home in Yoder, about 10 miles south of Fort Wayne, on Tuesday.
State police searched Chadwell's 40 by 80 foot pole barn in April, and the parts were hauled away.
According to the affidavit, a security contractor with Dana contacted state police after he learned early in 2007 that Chadwell had been selling parts made by Dana on eBay. Some of the parts had been used for testing purposes and were supposed to have been destroyed, the affidavit said, and Dana sent Chadwell a letter advising him to stop selling the items.
Chadwell's attorneys responded that while Chadwell did have Dana parts in his possession, he had acquired them legally, the affidavit said. The letter said some parts were sold, bartered for or given to him, and that some were leftovers given to him by suppliers or vendors during the 30 years he worked at the Fort Wayne plant before he retired in 2003. The letter said Chadwell had no intention of selling any more parts.
The affidavit said information from eBay and Dana's security contractor showed that between December 2006 and March 2007 Chadwell had sold 25 items that could have been from the Fort Wayne plant.
A Michigan man who allegedly bought some of the parts on eBay told state police that Chadwell had told him he obtained them after the plant finished using them for testing purposes.
Dana officials said they never had authorized the release of such parts to Chadwell, the affidavit said.
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