Jury trials have been scheduled for two of the defendants in an alleged chop shop operation and a pre-preliminary hearing has been continued for a third.
Formal felony charges were originally filed May 26, 2022 in Lincoln County District Court against Kaleb Burleson, 19, Kenneth Gale Simon, 37, and Whitney Harrison, 34.
Burleson, appearing for his arraignment on April 4 before Special Judge Emily Mueller, pleaded not guilty. The judge scheduled his trial for 9 a.m. June 5 and set him for the felony disposition docket at 9:30 a.m. May 16.
Harrison was later charged with harboring a fugitive also.
Harrison and Kenneth Gale Simon, 37, of Prague, who she is charged with harboring, were arrested following a brief pursuit on July 28.
Simon was arraigned on March 14. Appearing before District Judge Traci Soderstrom, he entered a not guilty plea. The plea was received and he was ordered to stand trial at 9 a.m. on June 5, this year. He is set for the felony disposition docket on May 16 and the jury call docket June 2.
He faces an additional charge of attempting to elude officers. Harrison, originally charged with conspiracy and knowingly receiving or concealing stolen property, is now facing an additional count of harboring Simon.
He has been ordered to stand trial at the same time on that charge and set for the disposition and jury call dockets at the same time as on the other charges.
Simon was charged May 26 in Lincoln County District Court of operating/dealing with a chop shop after former conviction of two or more felonies, conspiracy after former conviction of two or more felonies and knowingly receiving or concealing stolen property after conviction of two more felonies.
Harrison is accused of harboring Simon when she in fact knew law enforcement officers were looking for Simon for the purpose of executing warrants. She also appeared before Judge Kirk on July 29, a $5,000 bond was set on the new charge and her initial appearance is scheduled for Sep. 29.
Burleson was charged in Lincoln County District Court with operating/ dealing with a chop shop, conspiracy and knowingly receiving or concealing property.
The conspiracy counts against the three accuse them between March 19 and April 8 of this year of conspiring and agreeing with one another and with Mick Vancurren, also of Prague, of conducting a chop shop and disassembling, dismantling, reassembling a motor vehicle known to be illegally obtained by theft in order to misrepresent the identity of the vehicle.