By Shelley Smith
ssmith@salisburypost.com
A Salisbury man is in trouble after a foiled attempt to offer a tractor he was renting from someone as collateral for the purchase of a dump truck, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reported today.
On Dec. 6, an investigation began into a strange business triangle involving John Mark Euart, Gary Boggs and Nelson Barbee, all of Rowan County.
According to authorities, Euart used a track loader, which he rented from Boggs, as collateral to purchase a dump truck from Barbee.
Boggs said Euart rented the tractor for $500 a week beginning in 2009, and after three payments, he disappeared, the report said. Boggs told the sheriff’s office he tried to locate the tractor several times, but couldn’t.
On Feb. 12 of 2010, Barbee told deputies Euart came to him wanting a dump truck, and offered the tractor, valued at $33,000, as collateral.
Barbee said he didn’t know the tractor didn’t belong to Euart, and made a 90-day agreement with Euart that stated if he didn’t pay off the truck in those 90 days, the tractor would become his property.
Neither the dump truck nor tractor have been recovered. Investigators are still working on the case.
Euart, 47, of 170 Pop Stirewalt Road, has been charged with felony larceny and obtaining property by false pretenses. He was given a $5,000 secured bond.
Euart is currently in prison for a 2005 charge of obtaining property by false pretenses in Rowan County, and is supposed to be released Jan. 25.