Court documents: at least $25,000 worth of merchandise stolen in Best Buy burglary
Cole County prosecutors have charged four men in connection with the burglary of the Jefferson City Best Buy store early Thursday.
The Jefferson City Police Department said Michael Coleman, 28, Keeland Johnson, 24, Micah Lazaro, 28, and Jeremy Phillips, 28, had been arrested and charged with resisting arrest, stealing, possession of burglar’s tools and second-degree burglary.
Merchandise with a value of at least $25,000 was stolen from the Best Buy, according to a felony complaint.
“Burglary tools used to gain access to the Best Buy store were located inside the Dodge Grand Caravan with numerous items of Best Buy merchandise,” said a probable cause statement.
The statement said Best Buy’s preliminary estimates value the stolen merchandise at $60,000.
Officers were sent to the store at 3225 Missouri Blvd . at about 4:30 a.m. and saw a van driving away, the Jefferson City Police Department said in a news release. The driver of the van refused to stop for officers and five people ran from the van near Target, police said.
The van kept going until a treeline stopped it, police said.
According to a probable cause statement, Lazaro had a key card for a hotel room in Columbia, Missouri.
Police found Wal-Mart receipts showing a purchase of two pairs of gloves, one package was found in the hotel room and officers found the other pair in the woods during the search, documents said.
The statement said officers found wet dark pants and shirts in the hotel room and underneath one of the suspect’s vehicles, the clothing was wet from the suspects running through wet wooded terrain in the pursuit.
Officers located burglary tools inside a suspect vehicle, according to the probable cause statement.
Officials told ABC 17 News on Thursday that the men had ties to gang activity in Texas and that the Jefferson City incident was tied to other Best Buy burglaries in multiple states.
The Jefferson City police said Lazaro was the man arrested immediately after the pursuit. The others were arrested later Thursday, police said. More charges are expected, according to the department.
