DOJ Indicts Fourteen in Permian Basin Oil-Theft Conspiracy: Crude Stolen From New Mexico Producers, Stored on Federal Land, Sold Below WTI
A federal grand jury in Lubbock returned a 14-defendant indictment on April 8 — unsealed Wednesday — alleging that Texas-based Reidco Enterprises co-owners Randell and James Reid bought crude oil stolen from Eastern New Mexico producers by 11 Lovington, NM defendants, with one conspirator using leased U.S. government land as the storage point.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas on Wednesday unsealed a 14-defendant federal indictment charging an alleged crude-oil-theft ring that operated across the New Mexico–Texas border in the Permian Basin, the largest oil-producing region in the United States. The grand jury returned the indictment on April 8, 2026; the office announced the charges April 22.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said the defendants conspired to transport stolen crude oil interstate "for the purpose of enriching themselves." Each is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce; several face additional counts of interstate transportation, receipt, possession, or sale of stolen property. Conviction on the conspiracy count carries a maximum of five years; each substantive count carries up to ten.
How the indictment alleges the scheme worked
The charges describe a vertically integrated theft operation. According to the indictment, several defendants stole crude oil directly from oil producers in the Eastern New Mexico portion of the Permian Basin. "Some of which was then stored on land that one of the conspirators leased from the United States government," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in its announcement — a notable detail that places federal lease land at the center of the alleged scheme. The conspirator running the storage point then sold the stolen oil to other members of the ring "at prices significantly below West Texas Intermediate (WTI) pricing," the benchmark used to price crude in the Permian and across the U.S. The buyers, knowing the oil was stolen, then transported it across the New Mexico–Texas border for resale at a profit.
The below-WTI pricing is itself a hallmark of stolen-crude movement: legitimate Permian crude trades at or near WTI minus established quality and transportation differentials, and any meaningful discount below that band is a red flag for resellers.
The 14 defendants
Texas (3):
- Randell Wayne Reid, 41, of Electra, Texas — owner of Reidco Enterprises, a Texas-based oil-services company
- James Darrell Reid, 65, of Electra — owner of Reidco Enterprises
- Christopher Frederick Harris, 22, of Seminole, Texas
Lovington, New Mexico (11):
Louis George Edgett (68); Brenden Floyd Strickland (25); Sixto Herrera-Estebane (43); Gyardo Gonzalez (47); Jesus Martin Hernandez-Borja (51); Diana Marquez Rojo (45); Jose Luis Rojo (49); Jose Mario Rivas-Mendoza (37); Miguel A. Soto (41); Tavares Montrail Cole (48); Danny Dale Brown Jr. (42).
The "Dallas and Lubbock" headline framing of the U.S. Attorney's announcement refers to the Northern District of Texas judicial divisions where the case is being prosecuted; the actual defendants live in Electra, Seminole, and Lovington. Reidco Enterprises, the Reids' company, is publicly listed as a Texas oil-services and crude-recovery business based in Electra (in the Wichita Falls area, well outside the Permian itself).
The investigative coalition
The announcement names an unusually broad set of cooperating agencies for a state-level theft case: the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (the federal agency that manages the leased land where stolen crude was allegedly stored), the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety – Criminal Investigation Division, and the sheriff's offices of Lea County and Eddy County, both in southeastern New Mexico. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Howey.
The investigation reflects the response architecture that has emerged around Permian Basin oil theft over the past 18 months, including the FBI-coordinated Permian Basin Oilfield Theft Task Force and proposals in Congress (including Rep. Tony Gonzales's "Protect the Permian Act") to formalize and fund federal anti-theft work in the region.
The Permian as backdrop
The Permian Basin spans more than 86,000 square miles across West Texas and southeastern New Mexico and produces the majority of all U.S. crude. Industry estimates of annual losses to oilfield theft across the basin range into the hundreds of millions of dollars; producers have publicly raised the issue as a source of compounding losses as benchmark crude prices rise. The indictment is among the largest single oil-theft conspiracy cases the Northern District of Texas has filed.
An indictment is an allegation only; all 14 defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.