Farm equipment thief pleads guilty

? A Colby man has pleaded guilty to stealing farm equipment in Oklahoma and Nebraska and taking the equipment to his farm in Kansas.

U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch says 31-year-old Matthew T. Jones pleaded guilty Friday in Wichita to three counts of interstate transportation of stolen farm equipment. He also agreed to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution.

Prosecutors say Jones admitted that he and a co-defendant stole a Gleanor R65 combine in Oklahoma on June 1, 2006. He also admitted that on April 26, 2008, he and another man stole a John Deere tractor and planter near Elsie, Neb.

Co-defendant Ryan Hanzlick is scheduled for trial on July 13.

Jones is scheduled to be sentenced July 22.