$23,000 tractor reported stolen from Sparrow and Kennedy

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A Manning tractor dealership is reeling this week after the theft of a $23,000 riding lawn mower early Monday morning. Reports from the Manning Police Department indicate that surveillance video at Sparrow and Kennedy Tractor Company at 305 E. Boyce St. in Manning captured video of the alleged thief spending nearly 45 minutes inside the company's fence before taking a Z997R mower, one of the most expensive commercial mowers sold by the company. It's the second break-in at the store in as many months. The company suffered a break-in Dec. 10, 2016, after someone cut the fence in the same spot and taking a John Deere model Z535 mower, valued at $5,000. A Manning Police officer, according to the report, allegedly found a gold and white Cub Cadet lawn mower in the parking lot near Corner Diner, a restaurant across the street from the tractor company. "The mower had an orange ratchet strap around it that appeared to have been cut," the report reads. Police responded to the scene and noticed the front gate of Sparrow and Kennedy to be open. Reports indicate that the company manager told police that someone had cut the fence and taken the $23,000 mower. Another reports shows that the Manning Police Department was investigating a trailer and mower reported stolen the same day as the tractor company break-in from the Manning Hampton Inn, about two miles away from Sparrow and Kennedy and on the same highway. Tennessee resident George Hale, the complainant in that report, said the trailer had a Cub Cadet lawn mower on it which he uses to mow his Greeleyville property. Hale later confirmed the mower found near Corner Diner was the one he reported missing. Reports thus indicate that the suspect took the trailer and mower from Hampton Inn, drove to the diner and unloaded the Cub Cadet mower and then walked across the street, cut the 7-foot chain-link fence and loaded the mower on the trailer. Police reports indicate that the suspect took nearly an hour deciding which mower to steal. Dan Darby, the company's manager, told police that the suspect sat on eight of them. He used large boards from inside the business - using unlocked doors - to craft a makeshift ramp to move the mower across a ditch. Darby told police in December that that incident was not caught on camera. Manning Police are still investigating both incidents. "I know they're reviewing videos we had, and some videos from Hampton Inn," said Darby. "You can deter all you want to, but if someone wants something, they're going to get it. We have a camera and a six-foot fence with barbed wire. They used our ramps to cross the ditch." Darby said he was flummoxed by the suspect's lackadaisical approach to the incident. "Someone who goes to Hampton Inn, takes someone else's trailer and mower, then comes here, takes more than 45 minutes trying out other tractors, coming back and forth, and then dropping off the mower to take our mower, they don't really seem to care about anything," he said. "They weren't extremely concerned about getting caught, especially when after he took the commercial mower, he came back with a flashlight to look for more. I guess he couldn't fit anything else on the trailer." Anyone with information is asked to call the Manning Police Department at (803) 435-8859.