LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Six people have pleaded guilty to charges arising from a seven-count indictment alleging that 14 defendants conspired to steal crude oil from Permian Basin oil producers and resell it for significant profit, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.

On July 15, 47-year-old Gyardo Gonzalez, 40-year-old Mario Mendoza, 41-year-old Miguel A. Soto, all of Lovington, New Mexico; 51-year-old Luis Rojo, of Seminole; 47-year-old Diana Marquez Rojo, and Jesus Martin Hernandez-Borja, both of Hobbs, New Mexico; have all pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to steal crude oil.

In filed plea papers, the defendants admitted to stealing tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil from producers in Eastern New Mexico and selling it to 69-year-old Louis George Edgett, of Lovington, New Mexico, and 26-year-old Brenden Floyd Strickland, of Hobbs, New Mexico, who are also charged in the case.