Farm Worker Crime Prevention Fatality File

Sheriff says farm theft case involving irrigation pipe, tools has been solved

York County Sheriff Paul Vrbka said it was around the time of June 24, 2021, when his department received a report that a local ag producer had 120 sections of aluminum irrigation pipe and two pipe trailers stolen from fields. He said the value of the loss was estimated at more than $7,000.

“At that same time, we also had a theft from a rural construction site,” Sheriff Vrbka said. “In that case, about $10,000 worth of tools was taken. And we think the two theft cases are connected, likely the same person was involved.”

Sheriff Vrbka said also at that time, a rash of the same types of rural thefts was taking place in Lancaster County.

“Then, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department was contacted by a citizen who gave them information about the crimes and a name of a suspect,” Sheriff Vrbka said. “The suspect apparently has quite a history of this type of behavior. They got a court order and were able to put a tracking device on his vehicle.”

While Lancaster County officials were tracking the man’s movements, they were able to track him to the locations of those two large-scale rural thefts in York County.

And Lancaster County officials were able to track his movements to a salvage business in Iowa where he was recorded, on video, selling off all the stolen property.

“We were contacted by Lancaster County officials about this situation and it was determined he is the man who stole the large amount of irrigation pipe and the trailers, and we are finishing up the investigation into him also stealing all those tools in that other location,” Sheriff Vrbka said Thursday. “We got a warrant for him yesterday. He’s already in prison, right now, so he’s not going anywhere. We’ll have him convicted here too.”

Sheriff Vrbka said the man was identified as Patrick Sardeson of Lincoln, who will turn 64 years old tomorrow.

Sardeson is currently serving a 44-month sentence for two convictions of theft by unlawful taking in Lancaster County.