-Driver accused of abandoning chicken truck found

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Authorities in Idaho have arrested the driver thought to have abandoned a trailer containing 37,000 pounds of rotten chicken at a western Montana truck stop.

The Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force in Meridian found Christopher Hall, 42, on Friday afternoon, Nampa police Lt. Eric Skoglund said.

Police say the trailer might have been sitting at the Flying J Truck Stop west of Missoula, Montana, for a month before it was discovered this week with rancid juices from the cargo dripping onto the pavement and attracting flies.

Hall abandoned the trailer after his employer, Dixie River Freight Inc., refused his demands for more money to deliver its then-frozen cargo to Kent, Washington, according to police.

He left the chicken worth $80,000 to thaw and then rot when the fuel for the trailer's refrigeration unit ran out.

Hall has not been charged with any crimes related to the abandoned trailer, but he was picked up on a parole violation. He now faces a possible theft charge.

The Nampa-based trucking company reported the trailer missing Aug. 27, and Nampa police Sgt. Joe Ramirez said it might have been at the truck stop for more than a month.