Chief Deputy Mike Haley of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office said that WPSO detectives recently helped bust a “chop shop” located in Pearl River County, Miss.

In mid-May, the WPSO received a report of a pickup truck stolen from a location on Highway 21 south of Bogalusa, Haley said. Detectives were the able to trace the truck to a possible location in Pearl River County, west of Poplarville.

On Thursday, WPSO detectives and Pearl River County detectives were able to locate body parts from the truck at the suspected location, which was owned by Billy Granger Jr., 47, Haley said. The stolen truck had been dis-assembled and parts of it had been installed on another truck belonging to Granger. In addition, several other vehicles and pieces of equipment with either altered or obliterated serial numbers were discovered at the location, Haley said.

Granger was arrested by the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office and transported to the Pearl River County Detention Center in Poplarville. He has since posted bond and has been released.

Haley said that Granger was not charged with a crime in Washington Parish, because there is not sufficient evidence that he was the person who stole the truck. Detectives are continuing to investigate, hoping to uncover evidence and identify any other persons who might have been involved in the theft.

“Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison and his staff are always willing to assist us any time we can tie Washington Parish criminal activity to a person or location in Pearl River County,” Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal said. “We are so grateful for their assistance in this matter and are pleased they were able to identify the illegal chop shop operating in their county. We will continue to work with them and other surrounding law enforcement agencies to solve crimes which occur in our parish or in their jurisdictions.”