The fun ended quickly for two men riding stolen all-terrain vehicles near Frayser yesterday evening.  Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested them for possessing the vehicles which had been stolen just hours earlier in Horn Lake, Mississippi.

Detectives with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office A.L.E.R.T. Squad (Area Law Enforcement Retailers Team) and Street Crimes Bureaus arrested Melvin Kirkland, 22, and Melvin Milam, 38, both of Memphis. 

Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies were contacted early yesterday morning by investigators with the Horn Lake Police Department about two separate thefts in that community. One involved a Yamaha Grizzly and Honda four-wheeler.  The other, a Ford F-150 pick up truck and utility trailer loaded with copper tubing and fittings.

Within an hour of receiving the call from Horn Lake Police Officers, Shelby County Sheriff’s detectives had found the truck and utility trailer abandoned along Interstate 40 near Warford.  The copper was missing.

Throughout the day A.L.E.R.T. and Street Crimes Bureau Deputies developed leads that took them back to a wooded area not far from where the pick up truck and trailer were recovered.

As Deputies searched for the suspects, a Memphis Police helicopter pilot spotted the two men riding the stolen all-terrain vehicles in the woods near the dead end of Elmore Road.

Deputies converged on the suspects as they rode onto the parking lot of an auto repair business in the 4800 block of Elmore Road.  

Besides the two stolen ATVs, Deputies recovered the copper which had been placed on another trailer at the auto repair shop parking lot. The owner of the shop denied knowing anything about the copper or the suspects. 

Kirkland and Milam told Deputies they bought the copper and all-terrain vehicles from an unknown man for $600. They denied stealing any of the items.

Deputies charged both suspects with Theft of Property Over $10,000.