MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Ransom man accused of using a county-owned excavator without permission during tornado cleanup in Plevna has been bound over for trial.
Cody W. Royer appeared Thursday in Reno County District Court for a preliminary hearing before Judge Keith Schroeder. Following the hearing, the case was bound over for trial. Royer is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 2 at 8:30 a.m.
Royer faces one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a severity level 7 person felony, and one count of criminal deprivation of property, a Class A nonperson misdemeanor. He has pleaded not guilty.
The charges stem from an alleged May 24, 2025, incident during cleanup following the May 18 EF-3 tornado that struck the Plevna area.
According to court filings, Reno County Public Works employee Kathryn S. Gard and her husband, Shawn Gard, discovered that a county-owned excavator was missing from where it had been parked near Third Avenue and Anderson Street.
Prosecutors say the couple followed excavator tracks for about a mile to a residential property on East Avenue A, where they found the machine being operated in a tree row.
The state alleges Royer was operating the excavator and continued using it after Shawn Gard motioned for him to shut it down. Prosecutors allege Royer then drove the excavator toward Kathryn Gard while she was on the phone with dispatch.
According to prosecutors, Gard yelled and motioned for Royer to stop, with the excavator coming within about three feet of striking her.
Prosecutors allege Royer later got out of the excavator, took its key and left with his father, John Royer.
Royer maintains that he had permission to use the excavator and operated it safely.
The Reno County District Attorney’s Office previously dismissed a misdemeanor case stemming from the incident on March 11, 2026, and filed the current felony case the following day.