Former Academy Sports warehouse workers charged with smuggling out gun parts in their clothes

Three former employees of a Twiggs County sporting goods warehouse face federal charges alleging that they conspired to steal guns by hiding them in their clothes.

Harold Dinkins, 31, Vincent Allen, 27, and Joshua Milner, 27, all of Macon, were each indicted Thursday on charges of conspiracy to steal firearms. Dinkins also was charged with theft from a federal firearms licensee and possession of stolen firearms.

Here's what happened, according to the indictment:

The men, then employees of the Academy Sports Distribution Center in Jeffersonville, allegedly removed six rifles from a pallet that had been unloaded from a semi-trailer on Aug. 14, 2013.

After dismantling the rifles, the men hid parts in a rack of kayaks and elsewhere in the warehouse.

Authorities said the men put the plastic gun cases and cardboard boxes the guns had been shipped in into a trash compactor and crushed them.

At some point, they hid gun parts in their clothing and left.

A warehouse loss prevention officer spotted Dinkins, Allen and Milner taking gun parts out of the kayaks the next day, Aug. 15.

Dinkins was found to be in possession of a stolen rifle and a stolen pistol that day, authorities said.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Former Academy Sports warehouse workers charged with smuggling out gun parts in their clothes ."