SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A South Euclid man was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday, Nov. 2, after pleading guilty to stealing more than $104,000 in merchandise from Rural King stores across 10 Ohio counties, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson announced in a news release.
Byron Carner, 35, of South Euclid, pleaded guilty Monday morning in Clark County Common Pleas Court to one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and eight counts of theft, according to the attorney general’s release. He was sentenced immediately after entering the plea.
From June to October 2024, Carner stole more than $104,000 in merchandise, mostly tools, from Rural King stores and sold the items at pawn shops, the attorney general’s office said. The thefts took place in Belmont, Clark, Gallia, Greene, Huron, Jefferson, Knox, Medina, Sandusky and Union counties.
Carner and two suspected accomplices were arrested on Oct. 2, 2024, after a vehicle pursuit involving the St. Clairsville Police Department, the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, according to the release. WHIO also reported the guilty plea and the $104,000 figure on Monday.
Carner is already serving a prison sentence stemming from another case, the attorney general’s office said. The cases against his two suspected accomplices are still pending in Clark County Common Pleas Court.
The German Township Police Department investigated the case with help from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, according to the release. The Clark County Prosecutor’s Office prosecuted the case, with Attorney General Wilson serving as a special prosecutor.
The lead count, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, is Ohio’s organized-crime statute, aimed at theft and fencing operations carried out as an ongoing enterprise rather than a one-time shoplifting offense. Pleading guilty to that count together with eight theft counts exposed Carner to the nine-year sentence the Clark County court imposed on the spot, according to the attorney general’s release. WHIO reported that the targeted stores included Rural King locations in the Miami Valley, among them the Clark and Greene county stores in the attorney general’s list.
Rural King, a farm and home supply chain with stores across Ohio, was the target throughout the five-month theft run described by prosecutors. Monday’s plea and immediate sentencing close the case against Carner in Clark County, while the alleged accomplices’ cases move forward in the same court.