A Van resident arrested in relation to at least one mine theft last March has entered a guilty plea in Boone County Circuit Court.

According to records filed in the Boone County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Kenneth Ray Hager, 30, has entered a guilty plea before Judge Will Thompson. Hager entered a guilty plea to a single count of felony grand larceny due to his connection with at least one mine theft that netted a crew of thieves nearly $200,000 in stolen electrical gear.

A criminal complaint filed in Boone County Magistrate Court earlier this year by Cpl. Jaclyn McClung, of the West Virginia State Police charged Hager with being involved in the theft of numerous 600 and 400 amp breaker boxes. In addition, various contractors, hand tools, fluke electrical meters and other items were stolen from the Frasier Creek #7 mine at Twilight on March 16th of this year.

The complaint stated that an informant told McClung that Kenny Hager was "going to hit some mines." Further investigation indicated that Hager allegedly carried out the theft with Danny Griffy and Cecil Davis.

"The defendants sold the stolen breakers to Andy’s Mine Supply, in Oceana," the document stated. Another group of stolen items from Frasier Creek was found in a home in Clear Folk and additional items were recovered in a storage locker at Capitol Mini Storage in Charleston, after police served a search warrant on the facility.

Hager will return to circuit court later this summer to learn his sentence in the case.