SALT LAKE CITY -- Former Philadelphia Eagles running back Reno Mahe surrendered to authorities this week to face a criminal theft charge in Utah.
Mahe and four others are charged in Utah's 3rd District Court with stealing more than $15,000 in gasoline in 2010 from a construction company in a Salt Lake City suburb, according to court documents.
Court records indicate that Mahe, a former BYU standout, was booked into a Salt Lake County jail Thursday and released pending his next hearing. A scheduling conference in Mahe's case is set for Aug. 5.
Another former BYU football player, Tevita Ofahengaue, also is charged with a single count of theft, as are Michael Andrus, Mark Evers and Fred Prescott.
An affidavit of probable cause signed by Murray City police detective Tyler Evans said A-Core Concrete Cutting officials discovered one of their employees, Evers, was using a gas code to steal gasoline from the company for the last four years. The firm conducted an audit and calculated a loss of more than $55,000 between June 18, 2006, and Oct. 17, 2010.
The affidavit said video surveillance footage available for the final three months of the thefts observed Evers, and four of his friends, including Mahe, fill their personal vehicles with gas after business hours using the code. The detective said he viewed the video and determined Mahe was present during the theft of $2,688 worth of gasoline.
Because the amount is more than $1,500, Mahe is charged with theft, a second-degree felony. Evers is charged with first-degree theft based on the larger amount, and Ofahengaue and Andrus also are charged with second-degree felonies and Prescott a third-degree felony for allegedly stealing $1,212 worth of gasoline.
In a police interview, Evers admitted that he and his friends would meet once or twice per week at A-Core and they would fill their vehicles with gas. He said Mahe and Andrus would come with him often and that Ofahengaue and Prescott came with him just a few times.
Evers also admitted that he told all four at different times that he wasn't allowed to take gas from the company.
The concrete company previously filed a civil lawsuit against the men, accusing them and nine others not named for stealing more than $55,000 worth of gas.
At the time, Mahe said he wasn't aware he was being accused of doing something wrong. Mahe, 31, played for the Eagles for five years until 2008.
"It wasn't like I needed (A-Core)'s gas," he said last year, according to the Deseret News. "I'll pay, if that's the deal. I'll pay my portion back if he wasn't allowed to give it to me. I'm not worried about that part. As a man, you pay back your debts."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
