Sateki Reno Mahe, a former standout running back for Brigham Young University, has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of theft for allegedly stealing gas from a Murray company.
Mahe, 31, is one of five men accused of using a gas code to steal about $55,000 in gas from A-Core Concrete Cutting between 2006 and October 2010. He entered his plea Friday in 3rd District Court, Mahe pleaded not guilty to the second-degree felony.
At a preliminary hearing earlier this year, former A-Core employee Mark Evers said he helped Mahe, Michael Andruc, Fred Prescott and Tevita Ofahengaue, also a former BYU player, fill up their automobiles using a code. Evers said the code was intended for the company to run tests on the gas tanks and did not obviously register on the computerized tracking system.
Asked by defense attorneys if Mahe and the other men knew they were not allowed to pump gas from the lot, Evers said, "At the start, I would say no. But as [Mahe] came along, yes."
Still, when pressed by attorneys, Evers could not say exactly when, if ever, he expressly told the men he did not have permission to pump the gas.
Evers agreed to testify against his friends as part of a plea agreement that saw his first-degree felony charge reduced to a third-degree felony. That charge will be reduced further, to a class A misdemeanor, if Evers pays $56,000 in restitution.
A-Core officials said they discovered the missing gas in October 2010. In surveillance footage from August through October 2010, Evers and the other men could be seen filling up at A-Core's lot after work hours, officials said.
Mahe is charged with stealing $2,688 in gas over a three-month period. He played for Brigham Young University from 1998-2002. He also played five seasons in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, beginning in 2003.
Twitter: @aaronfalk
