The Arcadia County Sheriff's office had been investigating a series of thefts of farm equipment in the area since November 2008, when a bank reported to the sheriff that someone had applied for a loan for a John Deere tractor that was reported as stolen, according to thetowntalk.com.
The bank learned that the tractor sought in the loan was reported as stolen after running the serial numbers, which came up in a database of stolen farm equipment.
The police officer was arrested by investigators with the Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office on Tuesday afternoon in Lafayette and charged with felony theft and conspiracy to commit felony theft.
He was transported to the Acadia Parish Jail where his bond was set at $250,000.
Equipment theft experts say farmers can prevent theft of farm equipment by keeping the serial numbers of their equipment on record in a central location and registering the numbers with an anti-theft database.
