When Billy Scott woke up on Nov. 5, 2015, he had multiple missed calls and messages telling him West Point Stockyard was in flames.
He had owned the business for about eight years and had taken care of it for more than 20.
Scott’s father had once owned the stockyard, as well. The barn housed up to 1,000 animals in addition to all Scott’s equipment — everything from tractors to computers. By the time he arrived, the fire had burned it all, and firefighters were putting out the last of the flames.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Scott said. “Because we owned the place for 22 or 23 years.”
The next day, the State Fire Marshal declared the fire electrical, but Scott thought, even then, that someone had set it intentionally. Still, he was shocked when, more than nine months later, deputies with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested four men who were accused of conspiring to intentionally burn down the stockyard.
“When they started arresting these people, it was just as shocking as the fire,” he said.
A slew of charges
Deputies charged Billy Aron, 56, of Houston; Tommy Williams, 72, of Pheba; Daniel Easley, 38, of Oktibbeha County; and Jason Williams, 42, of Maben for arson in late August. Sheriff Eddie Scott said Easley and Tommy and Jason Williams were involved in an “arson for hire” plot that spanned Clay and Oktibbeha counties.
The three suspected arsonists for hire also allegedly burned a residence in Clay County in May.
Jason Williams, along with 54-year-old Barry Tuck of Maben, were also accused in a July fire at APAC in Oktibbeha County.
Many of the men involved in the alleged arson plots have a slew of other charges beyond the arson counts, including possession of stolen property and breaking and entering.
On Nov. 27, Easley allegedly escaped from the Calhoun County Jail — where he was being held on a theft charge — in a patrol car which was found within an hour. Easley was found days later in Webster County. Calhoun County deputies have since arrested Tuck and Jason Williams for helping Easley evade police, Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan said.
How the plot reportedly worked
Billy Scott said Aron was his business partner for about six years until they dissolved their partnership in 2013. After the stockyard burned, Aron and a new partner opened a barn across the road. Billy Scott said he heard Aron paid Easley and the Williamses $25,000 to burn the stockyard. Though he admitted none of them have been declared guilty yet in a court of law, he said he thinks they probably did it.
Rodney Johnson, owner of Cattlemen’s Stockyard — the nearest stockyard to Billy Scott’s former location and only other one in Clay County — said Aron had never been his business partner or even an employee. He said he opened his stockyard with three other partners after Billy Scott’s burned, and Aron is occasionally a customer of his.
Sheriff Eddie Scott said motive hasn’t been fully determined in the stockyard fire, but Easley and the Williamses are accused of setting at least one other fire for monetary gain in May of 2016. Mike Tribble, 54, of Cedar Bluff, allegedly hired them to burn a home he owned and was renting out so he could file an insurance claim.
The family living in the home were unharmed but lost all their possessions. Family members did not want to speak to The Dispatch for this story.
Sheriff Scott said the group allegedly had their own small network, through which potential clients learned the men were willing to set fires for monetary gain.
“This is arson for hire,” he said back in August. “That’s what it’s turned into.”
Aron and Tribble allegedly approached the group through Tommy Williams, the “broker of the group,” Sheriff Scott said.
“If you needed something, holler for him and he’d take care of it,” the sheriff added.
Lost profits
Billy Scott had to move his entire business, which in the two years before the arson had been thriving, to a barn in Thaxton, about an hour drive from West Point. Not only has he lost the client base he’d been steadily building for two decades, but he went from having a barn that fit 1,000 animals to using one that comfortably fits only 350 animals.
“The year before it burnt, net profit … was probably close to $180,000-$200,000,” he said. “And where I am, (in) the last 12 months, I’ve just broke even.”
But the actual value of what he, his family and his 20-plus employees have lost is much harder to quantify.
“It turned my world upside down,” he said. “I don’t even know what the penalty is for arson. I would like to see them have to build me a new stockyard is what I’d love to see.”
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