Marshall County supervisor pleads guilty to wheat theft, must resign
HOLLY SPRINGS – Marshall County Supervisor Keith Taylor pleaded guilty Monday to stealing a wheat crop worth more than $25,000 from land slated to be an electric vehicle battery plant.
Taylor, 57, of 191 Kathleen Road, Byhalia, was indicted in early October for two counts of grand larceny; the second count was for allegedly stealing more than $1,000 worth of water over a two-year period.
Taylor's son, Peyton Taylor, 26, and Jacob Wilson, 26, were also named in the indictment. The three men were facing up to 15 years and prison and up to $20,000 in fines if convicted.
All three avoided jail time and fines when Circuit Judge Kent Smith allowed the elder Taylor to enter an Alford plea to the charge of stealing the wheat. Under the special plea, Taylor does not admit to committing the crime but acknowledges that the state has enough evidence to convict him if it went to trial.
Smith issued Taylor a 10-year suspended sentence with five years of probation. He must also pay more than $26,000 in restitution and nearly $1,000 in court costs and fees. Taylor must also resign as county supervisor and agree to never run for public office again.
In exchange for the plea, the District Attorney's Office agreed to dismiss the second grand larceny charge and to dismiss the charges against the other two defendants.
A handwritten note on the sentencing order says the court will maintain a three-year right of review.
The allegations came to light earlier this year when farmers reportedly caught Taylor with a combine and buggy full of wheat that came from a part of a 500-acre site off Highway 72 at Cayce Road near Byhalia, a site soon to be home to a $1.9 billion plant manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
The Marshall County Board of Supervisors secured options on the land as part of the economic development process. While officials were still trying to lure the battery manufacturer, the land was leased to farmers who planted wheat in the fall of 2023. When the battery plant deal was signed over the winter, the farmers were reportedly paid for the crop they would never harvest.
When the wheat in question was being harvested on May 30, the farmers who planted the crop went to the fields, took pictures of the equipment and confronted Taylor.
The grand jury determined the land, and therefore the crop, were the property of the construction company charged with building the battery plant.
Taylor was ordered to pay $22,325.60 in restitution to Yates Construction, plus another $4,204.48 to the Marshall County Water Association.
Amplify Cell Technologies held a groundbreaking ceremony in late June for the 2 million-square-foot, energy-efficient factory that will employ up to 2,000 and begin production in 2027. ACT is a joint venture between Chinese Li-ion battery maker Eve Energy and Electrified Power, Daimler Trucks & Buses, and Paccar.
