Police: Former employee stole $25,000 document as ransom for back pay
A Las Vegas man has been charged with attempting to hit a man with an SUV after taking a document valued at more than $20,000.
Workers at High Plains Processing south of Las Vegas called police around 11 a.m. on Oct. 12 to say that Gail Houser, 71, who’d quit earlier that morning, was back on the property digging through a filing cabinet and grabbing documents that belong to the company, according to an amended criminal complaint filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court.
Employees said Houser grabbed payroll information and a document called a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Plan that the company is required to have on file in order to operate.
Company owners told police the document is valued at around $25,000, and without it, the company cannot process or butcher meat and, under federal law, was forced to close.
A part-owner of the company told police that he hasn’t been able to pay employees for two weeks, and that Houser told other employees he planned to keep the HACCP document until he received the back pay owed to him, according to the complaint.
Employees said that after Houser grabbed the document, a man attempted to close a gate to prevent Houser from leaving the property with it, but witnesses told police that as Houser drove away in a Toyota Highlander, he swerved toward the man at the gate, nearly striking him. Witnesses estimated Houser was traveling 30 to 40 mph at the time.
Houser was charged with second-degree larceny and fourth-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Oct. 12, and an arrest warrant was issued the same day. However, an amended criminal complaint was filed in Magistrate Court on Oct. 15 after investigators learned that another part-owner of the company knew Houser planned to take the HACCP document, and allowed him to leave with it.
New Mexico State Police officers met with Houser Oct. 14 at NMSP headquarters in Las Vegas. Houser told police he’d given the HACCP document to a United States Department of Agriculture safety inspector the day before, according to the amended complaint. Police were able to confirm the document had been returned.
As a result of the investigation, the arrest warrant was canceled and the amended complaint removed the larceny charge.
Houser was issued a summons to appear in court on the charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and is scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court Oct. 28 for a first appearance.
