Prosecutor Sets Trap for McVae

SAN ANGELO, TX — Marcus McVae one of several co-conspirators in the oil field heist of the David Rogers Construction Company pled guilty Monday in a plea deal that will set him free from jail for the first time since April 22, 2016.

But the bargain he received will likely mean he’ll be serving hard time eventually, maybe even the rest of his life in prison.

Prosecutor Jason Ferguson set the stage at yesterday’s plea hearing. Unable to secure a conviction of McVae in his April trial due to a hung jury, the DA was looking at another expensive retrial. But, Ferguson admitted, their key witness against McVae had fled to Mexico. He didn’t admit this, but a conviction in the retrial wasn’t a sure bet. If all the evidence in the previous trial ended in a hung jury, how can the DA be certain of a conviction in the next trial without its star witness?

McVae faced charges of engaging in organized criminal activity in an aggravated robbery in the heist of David Rogers Construction, and oil field operations company located in Tom Green County. The conspirators captured an employee at the Rogers’ equipment yard, tied him up with duct tape, and stole multiple vehicles that they took to Acuña, Mexico, across the border from Del Rio, to be sold. The heist was an inside job.

McVae’s trial that ended in a hung jury in April was the first of many on the docket over the David Rogers Construction heist.

In the time period between the hung jury in April and today, McVae had stated he was not satisfied with the representation he received from state-appointed defense attorney Shawntell McKillop. Yesterday morning, he was asking Judge Jay Weatherby for a new attorney. By the end that hearing, however, McVae had changed his desires after learning that any new attorney wouldn’t likely have adequate time to prepare for his retrial set for just a few weeks from now. He said he’d take assistant DA Ferguson’s Faustian Bargain.

Ferguson was able to get McVae’s charges enhanced because of two prior convictions: a 2010 conviction of assault of a public servant in Pecos County and a 2004 aggravated robbery conviction in Brown County. With enhancement, his state jail felony punishment increased from two minimum years in prison to 25-99 years.

Ferguson agreed to a 10-year probated sentence via deferred adjudication. He will also pay a $5000 fine. If McVae violates any term of his probation, he stands a likely chance of spending the rest of his life in prison.

Judge Weatherby was careful to outline the terms of his probation. “If you violate any of these terms, you will have to serve 25-99 years, do you understand this?” Weatherby asked McVae.

“Yes sir,” McVae answered.

The three terms of probation Weatherby stressed were:

1. That he was going to have to pay monthly his balance of a $5,000 fine, plus fees. If he misses a payment, McVae faces prison.
2. Secondly, Weatherby said, McVae had to spend the next 10 years within Tom Green County. He cannot move to find a work or anything other than a temporary pass if he can get his probation officer to agree.
3. Finally, McVae cannot have any contact or communication with any of the alleged co-conspirators. Weatherby read the list of characters heard from during McVae’s trial.

Ferguson said in court he wouldn’t have agreed with the 10-year deferred adjudication if the sentence weren’t enhanced to 25-99 years in prison if McVae violates parole.

The question for McVae is, who will give this man a job in Tom Green County so he can pay his monthly stipend to the State? He did, after all, plea guilty to the crime of being involved in a heist of a major employer within the county. Will he find work, and how long will he remain free on probation if he cannot? Will he miss a payment to the probation office?

At the end of yesterday’s hearing, as McVae was being escorted out to the county jail for out-processing, a bittersweet moment happened between himself and his attorney McKillop. McVae said goodbye to her. “Goodbye. I guess I’ll never see you ever again,” McKillop said back.