CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A federal jury deliberated about 2 1/2 hours Thursday in acquitting a Ripley County man of lying to a federal agent about a missing helicopter, which authorities found in his hanger.
Lonnie Wayne Reid stood trial this week before U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. on two felony counts of lying to a federal law enforcement officer about a material fact related to the investigation of a missing helicopter.
Reid originally had been charged with four counts, but "we dismissed two (of the counts) to shorten everything up before trial," explained Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Sorrell.
The jury was seated on Tuesday and began hearing testimony at about 3:30 p.m. that day.
At issue reportedly was whether Reid had lied about crashing the helicopter and whether it was owned by the Department of Defense.
The first count, Sorrell said, related to a statement Reid made saying he "crashed the helicopter, and it was destroyed in a fire.
"The second statement, he said, he disposed of the helicopter in a dumpster by the Ripley County Courthouse."
The aircraft, according to Sorrell, was a Department of Defense-owned helicopter "under a loan program to Ripley County."
Before the helicopter was sent to Ripley County in April 2005, Sorrell said, it previously been used in Stoddard County for a few years and had started out in Scotland County, "way up in northern Missouri."
The government's witnesses testified the helicopter was used by the Ripley County Sheriff's Department from 2005 until it was reported by Reid to have been destroyed in a fire on Jan. 1, 2011.
Sorrell said Reid was a local pilot, who had agreed to fly it, as well as servicing and maintaining it.
Agreeing to fly the helicopter, Sorrell said, allowed Reid to keep his helicopter pilot's license current.
Reid's alleged false statements were made in 2015 when he was interviewed by a DOD agent and said "that the helicopter had been destroyed in a crash and fire, and he also reported he had disposed of the helicopter in the dumpster."
Sorrell said Reid's log book showed the fire as being on Jan. 1, 2011.
"After the interview was conducted on Oct. 28, 2015, the agent executed a search warrant on (Reid's) private hanger at his residence," located "right beside the Doniphan Municipal Airport" on Highway 21 North.
Inside the hanger, Sorrell said, investigators found a Bell OH-58 aircraft, which was the "same model (of helicopter) sent to Ripley County by the Department of Defense.
"That helicopter had many of the same parts, identified by serial numbers, that are originally placed on the helicopter sent to Ripley County in 2005."
Sorrell said the parts originally had been placed on the helicopter in 1995 by the U.S. Army.
The transmission, gear box and rear rotor blades were among the seven "different parts that had serial numbers on them that matched the helicopter sent to Ripley County," explained Sorrell, who indicated the government's witnesses included DOD investigators and Ripley County personnel.
Sorrell said the government's evidence was that it was the same helicopter.
The dispute, he said, arose as to whether the DOD owned the helicopter "based on the documents associated with that helicopter. ... The underlying documents of ownership were confusing."
The defense, Sorrell said, called witnesses who testified they believed the helicopter found in the hanger was a different one "based on their recollection of its appearance."
Reid's attorneys, Derrick and Devin Kirby, did a "credible job of pointing out the flaws in the Department of Defense records" and in convincing the jury of those flaws, Sorrell said.
"Their evidence was it was simply a different helicopter than the one found in the hanger," Sorrell said. "They exploited the differences and did a good job" on the case.
The government wrapped up its case on Wednesday afternoon, and defense concluded its case Thursday morning before the jury retired to begin its deliberations at about 11 a.m.