An Ottawa County sheriff's deputy on patrol thwarted an alleged attempted theft of wooden pallets from the Green Country Soil plant east of Miami.

The Sheriff's Department said Cpl. Matt Redden noticed a red pickup truck with a flatbed trailer backing up next to a building at the plant on Monday morning and made contact with two men in the vehicle.

Undersheriff Bob Ernst said in a news release that the men initially told Redden they had pulled off the highway to get some sleep, but eventually admitted an intention to steal pallets from the plant. Ernst said the men also acknowledged that they stole 288 pallets from the business a week earlier and sold them in Arkansas for $715.

John Wesley Holden, 20, and Troy Dewane Mathia, 21, both of Fairland, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit grand theft and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. A .22-caliber rifle reportedly was found in the truck.

The men were taken to the Ottawa County Jail and later in the day appeared in Ottawa County District Court. Their bonds were set at $5,000 each.