CASPER, Wyo. — Natrona County Sheriff’s Office investigators have charged two men with stealing approximately $230,000 in equipment from an industrial design-and-build contracting company over a seven-year period.
According to the affidavit, a former shop supervisor with purchasing authority purchased welders, plasma cutters, and tires, which were then sold by a co-conspirator on Facebook Marketplace.
Terry Kelley, 59, was charged in Natrona County Circuit Court on Wednesday with seven felony counts ranging from 2018 to 2024, all of which allege theft or conspiracy.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson told the court that Kelley, the former shop supervisor, was the primary actor in the conspiracy to buy equipment for his co-conspirator, who is believed to have fled the jurisdiction.
Nelson requested a $75,000 cash or surety bond for Kelley, claiming that he had been difficult to reach due to his employment with an oilfield company that occasionally sent him overseas.
Kelley and his co-defendant at large, Matthew Dempsey, are presumed innocent until proven or pleaded guilty.
The case began on New Year’s Day 2024, when a woman contacted the sheriff’s office to report that Dempsey had confessed to a tire-selling scheme that had been ongoing for several years.
The next day, the deputy visited Automation and Electronics, an industrial contractor on North Poplar Street, and spoke with the general manager.
Following a two-week internal investigation, the manager identified several suspects, primarily Kelley, who worked as the weld shop and fleet maintenance manager. The manager also believed that the department’s bookkeeper should have noticed the anomalies.
The manager also had a screenshot of Dempsey’s Facebook Marketplace post advertising a full set of Wrangler DuraTrac tires with visible serial numbers that corresponded to the serial numbers on the purchasing invoice.
The post had already been deleted at this point, according to the affidavit. According to the manager, Kelley also canceled a purchase order for 14 tires from a local shop.
The manager speculated that rumors about the investigation had already spread throughout the company.
By February, Kelley and the bookkeeper had been fired, and the manager was reviewing all of Kelley’s purchase orders from 2018 and matching them to inventory in the storage room, which some employees referred to as “K-Mart.”
A search warrant on Dempsey’s Meta/Facebook platforms yielded approximately 1,617 pages of communications between Kelley and Dempsey from January 2, 2018, to January 2, 2024.
The majority of the discussions were about tires, welders, generators, and plasma cutters. According to the affidavit, one of the photos was of a plasma cutter with a serial number that matched one on a purchase order.
The manager stated that the company had no need for plasma cutters in the first place.
Employees at a local tire shop told a deputy that they were familiar with Dempsey as the man who frequently undercut their prices on Facebook.
A search warrant on the former bookkeeper’s Venmo account revealed multiple transactions from Dempsey that occurred shortly after the Facebook sales of the equipment in amounts equal to half of the sale price, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Automation and Electronics’ full audit discovered approximately $118,000 in missing tools and approximately $112,000 in missing tires, for a total of around $230,000.
Kelley’s bond was set at $50,000 cash or surety. Dempsey remains at large. The warrant was issued in November 2024. According to court records, he previously lived in Evansville.
If you have information on the whereabouts of Matthew Dempsey please call the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office Investigation Division at (307) 235-9282. Information may be reported anonymously through Crime Stoppers of Central Wyoming by calling or texting 307-577-8477. Information reported through Crime Stoppers that assists an investigation may be eligible for a cash reward.
— Natrona County Sheriff’s Office
