Source: The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.)
Tee markers were the first thing golf superintendent Lou Agosta remembers vanishing from Owasco Country Club's golf course. It was 2001, and most of the nine-hole country club's tee markers - used to guide golfers teeing up - disappeared in one night.
Ball washers came up missing next, then pins, wire trash baskets, five-foot redwood benches, and the special pails holding material used to replace divots. Equipment vanished every year.
"I knew it was probably someone with an ax to grind in the golf business," said Agosta. "I never suspected a member."
Cayuga County sheriff's deputies Thursday charged a second person in connection with the thefts: Ronald C. Ross, 67, of 213 Tareyton Dr., in the town of Ithaca. Earlier this week, deputies arrested Ross's identical twin brother, Donald J. Ross, 67, of 6034 Oakridge Road, Owasco. The brothers have been charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony.
Both were former members of Owasco Country Club and last belonged to the club in 1997.
Sheriff's deputies recovered about $2,500 worth of golf course equipment at a garage-type cabin and on 104 acres the Rosses jointly own on Riley Road in the town of Moravia. The Rosses had carved out a three-hole golf course from their wooded acreage, using equipment from the country club to outfit it, police said.
Neither twin could be reached by phone. They were both issued appearance tickets and released. They're due back in Moravia Town Court Thursday.
At the Rosses' garage and makeshift golf course, Cayuga County deputies recovered five golf ball washers, 26 colored tee markers, two redwood and metal benches, two metal waste baskets, three divot repair pails, plastic chain used to guide golfers around paths, nine flagged pins and five directional signs saying things like "carts go this direction." They also found two town of Moravia highway signs, one saying "Loose Gravel," the other, "Loose Stone."
Sheriff's deputies have not confirmed that three Ithaca Golf Course pins discovered were stolen from Ithaca Golf Course.
It's not clear under what circumstances the Rosses left Owasco Country Club's membership.
The two were average golfers, said the club's golf pro, Thom Forrest.
"They golfed together, but not all the time," said Forrest. "They were pretty close to each other."
Tuesday, when Donald Ross was arrested at the Riley Road property, the twins were coming out of the woods from hunting, said Sgt. John Leja. Ronald Ross came to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office Thursday and turned himself in, said Cayuga County Sheriff Rob Outhouse
Over the years, Owasco Country Club officials reported missing items to the sheriff's office, and filed claims with their insurance, said Forrest.
Outhouse said it was one of the more unusual cases in a long while.
"It's not very often we see anything this calculated," he said. "Things taken over a long period of time, stockpiling them and building a golf course."