Henderson police officer indicted over alleged plot to steal, sell military equipment

A Henderson police officer was among five men indicted by a federal grand jury in Tennessee this month in an alleged conspiracy to steal and resell Department of Defense equipment, court records show.

The indictment, unsealed Sept. 8, accuses officer Conrad Lillegard of participating in a scheme with Alexander Rubey, Marcus Hollmann, Scott Martin and Alex Pelc to steal night-vision goggles. The filing alleged the group would then alter or remove markings to make the equipment harder to trace before selling it to private buyers, describing the transactions on online payment systems as “camera equipment.”

Lillegard, who started at the Henderson Police Department on Dec. 23, 2015, is on unpaid leave, a police spokesperson said Friday.

The filings allege that on Sept. 5, 2024, Rubey and Hollmann burglarized the National Guard Armory in Selmer, Tennessee — about 100 miles east of Memphis — stealing more than $285,000 in military equipment. The following day, Rubey allegedly sent a package addressed to Lillegard in Henderson.

Rubey and Hollmann also face a separate federal count tied to the alleged theft of goggles from a U.S. Army installation in Hawaii in 2022, court records show.

During a traffic stop on Nov. 3, 2024, outside of a National Guard Armory in Lexington, Tennessee — about midway between Memphis and Nashville — police found Rubey in possession of the goggles stolen in Hawaii, according to court documents.

The alleged crimes occurred from January 2022 through August 2026, with investigators determining that the stolen goggles had also been transported to Nevada, Arkansas and Michigan, filings said.

If questions ever arose from customers or law enforcement officers, the group had planned to say the stolen goggles were government surplus or contract overruns.

Court records show Lillegard was released from custody. His next court date is set for Sept. 28 in Jackson, Tennessee.

If convicted, Lillegard faces up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.