Fare Foods truck driver had been with company a month

Fare Foods, Inc. president Ron Porter said his Du Quoin company hired Daniel Pribble in early September as an over-the-road truck driver to deliver food products and supplies to fairs, expositions and festivals all over the country.

Pribble was charged as a suspect in a $27,000 theft from the company last week.

Fare Foods uses a national security screening service to perform background checks on employees who handle various sums of money as part of their work. Their were no issues with the report Fare Foods received on Pribble. The company has since changed security screening services as well as its cash-handling protocol.

At many fairs and festivals, concession owners--large and small--routinely pay for a lot of what they buy in cash while on the road. Others pay by check. It depends on the venue. It's just the nature of the business.

Porter, who is president of one of the nation's largest fair food suppliers, said Pribble was making a truck run from Houston to St. Louis with stops along the way. By the end of the run he had accumulated a lot of cash receipts.

Porter said on Oct. 4 he found the truck parked on the company's lot. Both Pribble and the cash were gone. Pribble's cell phone number had been cancelled and residency information was no longer current.

In fact, the investigation by the Perry County Sheriff's Department pointed to the fact that Pribble, over time, had obtained and cancelled nine separate cell phone numbers and had lived in six or seven places, mostly apartments.

As it happened, Pribble had been recently married and his wife had applied for work at Fare Foods, as well. Her application contained current contact information.

On Thursday, Nov. 14 at 12:45 p.m. the Perry County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at a residence in Mt. Vernon.

Pribble was charged with theft over $10,000 (Class 2 felony). The theft occurred on or about Oct. 4, 2013.

Pribble was transported back to the Perry County Jail by deputies and incarcerated after not posting bond of $40,000.

The money has not been recovered.

He will appear in court Monday, December 9 at 1 p.m. for a preliminary hearing. He will be represented by public defender Jennifer Foutch.

The Perry County Sheriff's Office was assisted in the arrest by the Mt. Vernon Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

An investigation is continuing and more charges may be forthcoming.